Ram Gopal Varma talks to Subhash K Jha about why he gets put off by girls in too much makeup & why he was inspired by Cheeni Kam...

In Nishabd have you been able to capture all that you set out to do?
It's a new chapter in my career. I've never made a more emotional film. Lots of people think I shy away from showing emotions. Nishabd will do away with that belief. Actually I shy away from over-blown emotions. I can't show my characters bawling.

In the way I've used various aspects of the medium this is my finest work to date. I always said Bhoot was a better film than Satya. That's because there was no material in the former. Bhoot manipulated audiences' attentions. In Nishabd there's no manipulation.

It's my most honest film to date. I haven't tried to be effective or clever. I rate Nishabd as Mr Bachchan's best performance ever because there's no performance at all. It proves more about him as a human-being than an actor. You need to be an extraordinary human-being to portray the emotions in Nishabd. He captures emotions from thin air.

Being put in a rather unconventional relationship do you think you've done full justice to Mr Bachchan's dignity?
I don't think Mr Bachchan has ever looked more dignified. Initially he had some reservations about doing such an unconventional love story. But he trusted the rapport that we had developed during Sarkar. Nishabd is his best performance to date. As a director I couldn't understand where all those emotions came out. Mr Bachchan shocked me with his naked emotions.

Didn't you see a totally unexplored facet of his talent in Sarkar?
No nothing in Sarkar prepared me for what he did in Nishabd. Basically I was trying to replicate Mr Bachchan's heroism from films like Shakti and Sholay where I adored him. Of late he was almost reduced to character actors in some films.

In Nishabd I've shown a side of him that neither him, nor the audience nor I existed. The kind of emotional nakedess that the plot required, isn't easy. For a married man to be in love with a girl your daughter's age isn't an easy situation. The point is, bodies age. Emotions don't.

I find nothing unusual about such an attachment. The film called for extremely unusual emotions. And for an actor who had done practically everything on screen Nishabd still required a lot of self-searching to do.

Where did you find Jiah?
I met her a year back. Something about her stuck her me. I thought I'd use her in one of my productions. Then when Mr Bachchan and I were discussing the idea of Nishabd, Jiah came to my mind immediately. Jiah is a natural. Apart from overcoming her fear of the camera I didn't have to work on her at all.

In any case I always leave the interpretation of emotions to the actors. She's the catalyst in the picture. It was imperative that I cast a new girl. To see the character's influence on Mr Bachchan I had to take the audience into confidence. And for that we needed a new face.

Was it hard shooting the love scenes?
Nishabd has nothing to do with sex. And in any case there are no 'love scenes' in real life. To me love is when you want to share part of your life with a woman, to talk sleep and watch movies with her.

So does Nishabd have a lot of romance?
I don't know what romance is. And no, there's no kiss between Mr Bachchan and Jiah.

How did you manage to complete the film in a month?
I always used to wonder how big productions in Hollywood actually managed to finish lengthy films in such a short span of time. Time is lost in Bollywood because of a lack of clarity. Even I've learnt to economize over the years.

Sarkar took half the time and resources of Company. Nishabd started with every member of the cast getting a copy of the script. So no time was lost on location. I chose Munnar because I've never shot in a tranquil green exotic location before. Clean looking locales with clean looking people (laughs) for change.

I think Nishabd is about looking real. I've a problem with actresses wearing too much makeup. If you want to kiss a sexy girl you don't want to taste the lip gloss in your mouth.

How did you discover Munnar?
Someone found this place for me on the net. Because of the novelty of the subject we had to go with the natural flow. My cinematographer Amit Sarkar said he was far more excited about Nishabd than Sarkar. People think it'd be a very sexual in content. But the sexuality isn't in showing the physical attraction.

The challenge was to capture those forbidden emotions without losing the dignity of the actors, characters and the circumstances they had to go through. I shot the film like a thriller without a thrill element. In Nishabd I've completely re-invented myself as a technician and a storyteller. I never felt so fulfilled as a filmmaker.

Sarkar was home territory. I could do it with my eyes closed. Nishabd was a process of discovery. It has changed my approach to filmmaking. Now even if I re-made Sarkar it'd be different. I'm surprised I could capture something as sensitive and subtle as Nishabd.

It's the simplicity of the story that made it so difficult. For all you know Nishabd could be a tv serial. I didn't design a single moment. The whole film just happenened.

I believe you were partly inspired by Cheeni Kam?
Yes, Mr Bachchan told me about Cheeni Kam. I also heard about a man in Hyderabad who married a much younger woman.

When Mr Bachchan told me about himself and Tabu in Cheeni Kam I suggested a film with a much younger girl. Within five minutes we decided to do Nishabd and within three days the script was ready. The film was shot in twenty days.