Ram Gopal Varma recently revealed that he had originally planned to cast Nagarjuna, Sridevi, and Rajinikanth in his 1995 film Rangeela. This surprising revelation came through a blog post where he shared his initial casting ideas. Ram Gopal Varma explained that Aamir Khan, Urmila Matondkar, and Jackie Shroff, who eventually starred in the film, were not his first choices.
According to Ram Gopal Varma, after completing the story, he intended to make the movie in Telugu with Sridevi and Nagarjuna in the lead roles, and he hoped to get Rajinikanth for a guest appearance. However, both Sridevi and Nagarjuna were not impressed with the story and chose to work on another project Varma had, which later became the movie Govinda Govinda.
Ram Gopal Varma further mentioned that both actors believed he excelled in making action films, which may have influenced their decision. He also shared that Rangeela was inspired by real-life events and that the concept of the film came to him while sitting in an Irani café.
For those unfamiliar, Rangeela is a popular Bollywood film that Varma co-wrote, directed, and produced. Released in 1995, this romantic comedy featured Aamir Khan, Urmila Matondkar, and Jackie Shroff. The story follows Mili, a young woman with dreams of becoming a famous actress, and the love triangle that ensues when both a famous actor, Raj Kamal, and her childhood friend, Munna, fall in love with her.
An interesting fact about Rangeela is that it marked the first Hindi film for legendary music composer A. R. Rahman, who provided an original score and soundtrack. Before this, Rahman’s Hindi films were dubbed versions of his work in Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu cinema. Rangeela was a box office hit and played a significant role in launching Urmila Matondkar’s career in Bollywood.
In recent years, Ram Gopal Varma directed Vyuham, a Telugu political thriller based on real events. He also made a special appearance in the film Kalki 2898 AD, directed by Nag Ashwin, starring prominent actors like Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone, and Disha Patani.
