‘I thought Vidhu Vinod Chopra would hit me': Ram Gopal Varma says 12th Fail director ‘believes he's the best filmmaker', Anurag Kashyap recalls quitting his film

Indian Express

02-06-2025

Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra was the topic of conversation for directors Ram Gopal Varma and Anurag Kashyap. In a recent interview, the duo revealed hilarious anecdotes and their memories of working with the 12th Fail director. While Kashyap called him 'self-obsessed' and recalled leaving his film Mission Kashmir, RGV said that Chopra believes that he is the best filmmaker in the world.
During a conversation with India TV, Anurag spoke about quitting Chopra's Mission Kashmir. Without revealing the details, he said, 'I had written a script for Shivam Nair to do for television. That is when I left Mission Kashmir and I asked Shivam, 'Can I direct my own script?'. Shivam gracefully agreed.'
Having said that, the Gangs Of Wasseypur director praised Chopra's creative mind. 'The child in him is still alive. His self-obsession and vanity co-exist. There's one sequence in 12th Fail where Vikrant Massey's character has gone all the way to (Uttarakhand). It's a single-shot scene. The way he has designed it, he's a craftsman. When he's at his peak craftsmanship, you do admire him,' he added.
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Ram Gopal Varma had his own funny anecdotes to share. Recalling a script narration for Mission Kashmir, he said, 'He mentioned 'shikara' (houseboat). Now, I am not a Hindi guy. I assumed that 'shikara' meant hunter! I thought that he differently pronounced 'shikari' (laughs). A little ahead into the narration, he told me, 'The shikara blows up'… After 10 minutes, I asked him, 'Why was the hunter killed?''
He continued, 'He said, 'Ramu, you don't know shikara'! He was so angry with me (laughs)… I screwed up the entire narration. He was so angry with me that I thought he was about to hit me or something!'
RGV also claimed that Vidhu Vinod Chopra believes he is the best filmmaker in the world. 'He genuinely believes that he's the best filmmaker in the world. Whether he's one or not, I am not going to say that. But I don't think any filmmaker in the world will believe that,' he concluded.