India's most unsuccessful director has 29 flops, no hit in 25 years, now makes adult content, still called legend
The most unsuccessful filmmaker in Indian cinema history has made 29 flop films.
If your career filmography consists of 80% of flops and only a handful of hits, you are likely to be considered a failure. But it’s another matter if your hits are classics and many of your flops are also considered milestones, contentwise. And yet, there is a filmmaker with this record who has fallen so far off track that he is now resorting to making adult content with porn stars.
Why is India’s ‘most unsuccessful’ filmmaker still considered great
The director in question is Ram Gopal Varma, the man who has given the most flops as a director in the history of Indian cinema. The filmmaker has made 34 films in his career so far, of which only five have been able to recover their costs at the box office. That leaves RGV with 29 flops in his career. His last clean hit was Satya, which released way back in 1998. Since then, he has a few semi hits and average grossers like Company or Sarkar, and a spate of box office bombs. Yet, because of the impact his films like Shiva, Satya, Rangeela, and others have had on Indian cinema and filmmakers, RGV is regarded as one of the greatest and most influentials filmmakers in Indian cinema history.
Ram Gopal Varma’s peak in the 90s
Ram Gopal Varma shot to fame with Shiva in 1989, the Nagarjuna-starrer that brought the angst of the young generation to the big screen. He went on to make hits and critcally-acclaimed films through the 90s. Shool, a film he wrote and produced, even won him a National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. His avant-garde works continued with semi successes like Sarkar and Rakta Charitra. But after the turn of the decade in 2010, RGV’s star faded fast.
Ram Gopal Varma’s foray into soft porn
While his first few failures were criticised, they were still in the maistream genre, most notably RGV Ki Aag, a remake of Sholay that bombed badly. But after 2018, his works have ventured into the titilating territory with many calling them soft porn films. His 2018 short film God, Sex and Truth starred adult film actress Mia Malkova in the lead. His most recent feature film 12 O Clock was also derided by critics.