Ram Gopal Varma flashes Bezawada credentials

HYDERABAD: Having stirred up another controversy ahead of a film of his, this time Bezawada Rowdeelu, film director Ram Gopal Varma is adamant that he won’t change the title of his film. “I don’t care about what some jobless politicians say. I won’t change the title,’’ Varma said today.The people of Vijayawada, which used to be called Bezawada once, are up in arms that the film would show their city as crime-prone and trigger-happy.Last month, when shooting of the film commenced in the city, Varma was accused of being a traitor to the city he grew up in.Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, a friend of the film-maker, added his voice in opposition to the title. The MP recently told a TV channel he was confident RGV would listen to reason and removed either ‘Bezawada’ or ‘Rowdeelu’ from the title.Varma rubbished reports Saturday that he has been persuaded. In his tweets on Twitter the film-maker implied that he needed no lessons on the ways of a city city where he studied studied engineering but spent more time in its movie theatres than classes. “Bezawada is my place of origin rather than Hyderabad. I learnt the business of films in Bezawada. If I’ve achieved anything, it’s all because of Bezawada.” Varma’s first film Shiva, starring Nagarjuna, was a crime thriller based in Vijayawada. It was a major hit and launched him into the big league of film directors.Bezawada Rowdeelu is about the tussle between two powerful crime groups, thought to be patterned after Vangaveeti Mohana Ranga Rao and Devineni Nehru, both crime bosses who crossed over into politics. Groups owing allegiance to them continue to dominate the scene in the city.The director sought to use the present controversy to showcase it as his way of improving the image of Vijayawada.“I request people to give me additional support to counter the evil forces that are obstructing me,’’ he said.Ram Gopal Varma’s films have frequently raked up controversies ahead of their release. He has been accused of trying to stoke them himself. As he says himself, “In these days it makes more sense to ask whether the publicity campaign has been a hit rather than asking whether the film has been a hit.”