by Subhash K Jha

"Most Of My Films Are Remakes Of My Own Films".....Ram Gopal Varma at his inimitable best

You're getting together Bollywood's first family for the first time.
Yes we start Sarkar 2 from July 4 in Hyderabad. I didn't cast them as the 'first' family. I cast Aishwarya Rai long before she got involved with Abhishek.

But now the audience will look at the couple in a different way.
I disagree. Once the audience enters the theatre film it creates its own ambience in the first ten minutes. Unless a film is designed to accentuate personal equations between actors, audiences forget what the actors share in real life. Sarkar 2 isn't designed to play up the Abhishek-Aishwarya relationship.

The senior Bachchan's character would be semi-retired in Sarkar 2?
Yes. Sarkar ended with the senior Bachchan's decision to retire. But Abhishek isn't willing to take over the mantle. We take up the story from there. The Abhishek character will be substantially more in the forefront. But like every son in a business empire he'll continue to look up to his father for guidance and support.

Abhishek and Aishwarya are husband and wife in Sarkar 2?
No! Abhishek is already married to Tanisha in Sarkar, so how can he be married to Aishwarya?

In this era of sequels have you decided on Sarkar 2 only because everyone else is doing a sequel?
It was Abhishek's idea to do a sequel to Sarkar. We thought of Sarkar 2 even before the shooting for Sarkar was over. The characters seemed to tempt me enough to give them a renewed life. In any case I don't understand this concept of a remake.

Audiences just enjoy the story unfold in its own way. When a bestseller is turned into film why do people go and see it when they already know the story? It's the interpretation, right?

Didn't you feel this way about any of your other films, Satya for instance ?
Most of my films are remakes of my own cinema. Satya was a remake of my Drohi, Bhoot was a remake of Raat. Obviously the way the two sets of films were made was different. I've been tempted to do sequels quite often. But not Satya. Everyone died at the end of Satya.

In Sarkar, the political family has immense scope to reinvent their lives. All powerful political families have tremendous potential to be renewed. In Sarkar 2 I'll use whatever I left behind in Godfather 2 & 3 and Good Fellas.

But Sarkar wasn't The Godfather, it was more on the lines of Bal Thackeray's family.
Well, the father and son conflict was inspired by Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. The Godfather was never about the mafia. It was a family drama.

Have you seen Sarkar lately?
No. I've this terrible habit of not watching my own films. I should do it just so that I don't make the mistake of making films like Shiva and Nishabd...