Ram Gopal Varma reveals ‘Satya’ had no script at all on Komal Nahta’s Game Changers podcast

In a recent podcast, ace director Ram Gopal Varma spoke about his journey from being an engineer to becoming a filmmaker, his love for experimenting with new genres and how he doesn’t believe in having a bound script.

In conversation with Komal Nahta, when Ram Gopal Varma was asked about his spontaneity on the idea of making a film without a script in place. He said, “See, if you take the example of Satya, there was no script at all. I have some kind of guts, like- let's start shooting, and we kept changing the scenes in between shoots,” Varma revealed. Emphasizing on why he doesn’t believe in writing a script, and improvising fresh ideas, he said, “Honestly, I don't believe in the importance of a script.”

Ram discussed the risks and challenges involved in his unique style of filmmaking. The filmmaker said, “I'll tell you something that could have gone very wrong in Satya, but it went right, that's a different story. Kallu Mama holds a gun to Satya when Satya comes running away. I suddenly thought, and was thinking of killing the Chandrakant Mule, that's Makarand Deshpande's character. I called Makarand, "Makarand, where are you?" He said, "Sir, I'm at home." So, I said, "Why don't you come to the set? I'm thinking of killing your character in this scene." So, he came, and the camera rolled, and the scene was shot.”

The director discussed the drawbacks of his filmmaking approach, emphasizing that working without a fixed script can lead to unpredictability. He gave the example of Satya, mentioning that the film might have turned out very differently if luck hadn’t been on his side.