http://www.greatandhra.com/viewnews.php?id=28328&cat=10&scat=25
This is the content of the article.
Ram Gopal Varma knows how to give a genius color to him. He generally quotes Ayn Rand who is Greek and Latin for millions of Indian film lovers.
When someone feels that something is known to other which he doesn’t know, he tends to see a genius in that other one.
Above that when a film celebrity speaks about something with command that is not known for many, obviously he is called genius by many.
This is not my pseudo analysis about Ram Gopal Varma. He wrote an article to a News Paper many years ago and there he quoted a few lines from Hitler’s Mien Kamph. People those read, assume that he chewed and digested Hitler’s most famous work. But in reality, Ramu once said, he never read Mein Kamph and knows nothing more than what he quoted in that article.
Ramu is a big marketer who can even add a few lessons to Philip Kotler’s text books. He makes use of every complex subject, a burning issue or a mere fiction just to pull the world towards him. He does everything with vested interest. He believes that publicity is the soul of his life.
In the process, he didn’t even leave making statements on Lord Rama on twitter. When everyone was extending Sri Ram Navami wishes, Ramu started questioning about Lord Ram. Generally celebrities keep away from fingering in religious issues. They are afraid of being branded as ‘blasphemous’. But Ramu is a separate entity. Some call him cynical, others call him skeptical and many call him insane. Interestingly Ramu loves that third adjective. He wants to project himself as a very complex being, so that people and media spend more time on him with the objective to understand him. His idea is attention pulling and there he is scoring. That’s it.
Ramu asked, “Apart from fighting a personal war with Raavan for his wife did Ram also do anything for the people of Ayodhya? I wonder if Dasarath was awarded heaven after sending Ram to the jungle by favoring his selfish nasty wife over the people of Ayodhya. Would Laxman’s wife have gone to hell for not going behind her husband to the jungle like Sita, the pativrata. If there were no arrows I really wonder how good Ram will be in a fist fight. Apparently Dasarath gave enough clothes and ornaments to last 14 years in the jungle ..between Ram, Laxman and Sita I wonder who carried them? And if they were not given the clothes were they wearing the same clothes all those years?”
And at last he admitted saying, “These are all not my own observations or questions. I ask these again by quoting from Muppalla Ranganayakamma’s ‘Ramayana Visha Vriksham’. I equal her to Ayn Rand”.
Ayn Rand and Ranganayakamma are clearly cynical and only that made them popular. Ranganayakamma was controversial as she ended up with blasphemy in the process of analyzing Ramayana with logic and reasoning.
A film director called me yesterday and blasted Ram Gopal Varma for his tweets on Lord Ram. He said, “Ramu has no ethical right to write about God. He is losing his followers on twitter for writing something which he cannot own. He should write about films and not about other affairs. Even he writes he shouldn’t hurt the feelings of others by letting out his questions and doubts. If any doubts he should ask his learned friends but shouldn’t post on public forums and belittle a religion”.
Well, what the director felt may be true. But as I said in the beginning Ram Gopal Varma’s idea is to pull the attention of people in good, bad or ugliest way possible. His intention is not to clear his doubts but just instigate and ignite. He never bothers if a religion or community is getting belittled (well, I do have doubts if he can ask similar doubts with respect to other religions).
Coming back to Ramu’s questions, there is a reasonable answer for every logical question. Ranganayakamma or Ramu ask the above questions by watching a few films on Ramayana and reading a few translated works. Writers and directors may tend to make a few continuity mistakes and screenplay errors. They may give up unnecessary descriptions (who carried the luggage bag during Vanavasam), just like Ramu gives up logic and takes cinematic liberties in his films. The essence of movie is being understood by majority lot for not getting into unnecessary details. So is Ramayana.
Ramayana, the story of an ideal man and woman, directs the mankind by educating what to be done and what not to be. There are no politics, there is no focus on rulers and the ruled (hence the focus was not pinned by writer on what Rama did to the people of Ayodhya). And the gap was filled by Mahabharata. While Ramayana has to be taken for personal enlightening, Mahabharata should be taken for building a better society on the platform of dharma.
Is Rama God? Or devotees made him God? Rama never claimed that he was God, but Krishna did. But for us, Rama is someone who is beyond us. Hence we made him God. But it is not enough if we pray for him and sing songs on him. It is not even correct if we keep on questioning about the screenplay errors surrounded him in the story. We are true devotees of him only when we follow him as his ideals are meant only for human beings. What Lord Rama is showing us on macro level?
* Modesty despite possessing divinity in him
* Balance of senses in the time of ordeals
* Respect towards elders even when they go against his wishes
* Fearlessness in fight
These qualities are timeless and they hold value for ever. Asking Sita to prove her chastity by doing ‘agnipravesham’ etc were the dramatic episodes in narration those should be understood with the mindset of writers those wrote it, long ago when women rights weren’t made a law. The creative liberties are focused in big way shunning the right side of Ramayana, either by Ranganayakamma or Ram Gopal Varma.
To conclude, I say there are four sets of people in this world
* Gods (those who can just love and serve everyone unconditionally whether the served is theist or atheist or agnostic)
* Humans (those who love God since he blesses with pleasures, treasures and wipes out fears but punishes if questioned about his existence)
* Rakshasas (those who call their God as God and shun others’ Gods. Just like Rakshasas call only Lord Shiva, the God)
* Ram Gopal Varmas (those who question about God and lets entire population decide in which of the above three categories they fall)
My response :
Well, how do you define genius? RGV projects himself to be a genius according to you. If people are foolish enough to fall for that, they deserve to be ignorant of your article. He can atleast quote some of the “biggest cynics” you have ever known with aptness. When you say RGV acts in his vested interest, you imply you want him to be a saint. You want him not to demean God just because 95% of Indians are theists. Is there any wrong with being blasphemous? If you seriously want to uphold the principles of religion, why do you go to a doctor to cure your disease but not a priest? According to the director who called you, who has the ethical right to write about God except believers?
Coming to the macro level things that Rama showed,
1. Modesty despite possessing divinity in him- How does he know that he is divine? He was just a character in a faulty screenplay.
2 Balance of senses in time of ordeals- Just to incorporate a bit of spice in his story, he asked Sita to jump into fire. Wonderful balance!
3 Respect towards elders even when they go against his wishes- This is hilarious. Dasaratha did a wrong in asking Rama to go to forest, Ravana did a wrong by forcibly taking Sita to Lanka. While Rama respected his father, he fought with Ravana. Isn`t Ravana older than Rama? Or does it have something to do with “Bandhupreeti”
4.Fearlessness in fight – Since Rama knows he is divine, he has nothing to fear. Ravana deserves more credit here as he knew at some point that he was going to die.
P.S. I don`t consider RGV a genius but the logic behind your article could not have been more flawed .
Abyss of erudition 