‘Only egotistic people will take it personally’

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma backs Allu Aravind’s remark against Yash

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has come out in support of producer Allu Aravind amid the controversy surrounding an old remark made by him regarding Yash. Calling the controversy “ridiculously laughable,” Varma explained what he believed Aravind meant with his statement and criticised those who took the remark personally, calling them “highly egotistic.”

Ram Gopal Varma wrote on X, “The controversy regarding #AlluAravind’s statement regarding #Yash is ridiculously laughable because what he clearly meant when he talked about big films with unknown actors and saying he didn’t know of Yash before KGF, even a dumbo should understand that it was in context of the below.”

Citing examples from Indian and international cinema, Varma compared Yash’s rise after KGF to how actors such as Prabhas and Rishab Shetty gained wider recognition through Baahubali and Kantara, respectively. He also drew a comparison with Hollywood actor Marlon Brando, suggesting that while an actor may already be well-known within a particular industry, a successful film can take them to a much larger audience.

“The Hindi audience dint know Prabhas before Baahubali, they dint know Rishab before Kantara, I dint know Brando before The Godfather..Maybe he was a star before in his films A Street Car Named Desire, On The Waterfront etc..I don’t know if they released in india also.. That’s because those films made them big stars and not the other way around..Hollywood always spends big on concept films and not on stars,” he wrote.

Varma then appeared to take an indirect swipe at the importance of star power, writing, “Even directors like (Christopher) Nolan use names only for their acting prowess and not to depend on their stardom..We all know whether it’s Oppenheimer or The Odyssey, they would work as much irrespective of who’s in it.”

Returning to the controversy surrounding Aravind’s comment, Varma argued that only people with inflated egos would interpret the statement personally. He wrote, “It’s only highly egotistic people who will take his statement personally on such a general well meaning thought ..Actually this kind of reaction also explains why they are making what they are making.”

Varma’s post, however, led some social media users to speculate that he was taking an indirect dig at Yash. One user questioned, “You have been attacking Yash nonstop but he is not reacting to you, why?” Another asked, “Did Yash reject any of your scripts?”

Meanwhile, Toxic, starring Yash collected ₹7.45 crore nett (all languages) in India, taking the six-day total to ₹221.55 crore. The villain here is the reported budget. Geetu Mohandas’ directorial is reportedly made on a budget of ₹500 crore. So, it still has a long way to go to surpass the budget.

What was said?

The controversy stems from comments Allu Aravind made in 2023 while discussing filmmaking, production scale and the success of KGF. He had asked, “Who was Yash before the release of the KGF movie?” The remark drew criticism from Yash’s fans, who argued that his achievements in Kannada cinema long predated his blockbuster KGF franchise.