18 Years of Sarkar: “When Amitabh Bachchan first heard the ‘Govinda Govinda’ theme, he looked at me as if I’d lost my head. He asked, ‘In our film, where did Govinda come from?’” – Ram Gopal Varma

By Fenil Seta -

August 3, 2023 - 10:00 AM IST

Ram Gopal Varma has made several memorable films in his career, one of which is Sarkar (2005). It was loosely inspired by the classic The Godfather (1972) and yet, it made for a superb watch thanks to RGV’s expert direction, powerful moments and strong performances of Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. Another memorable factor in the film was the ‘Govinda Govinda’ background score. One can’t imagine Sarkar today without this theme. But there was a time when Amitabh Bachchan was not comfortable with this music. Ram Gopal Varma talked about it and more on a podcast called ‘Love Of Cinema’ by Himanshu Joglekar.

18 Years of Sarkar: “When Amitabh Bachchan first heard the ‘Govinda Govinda’ theme, he looked at me as if I’d lost my head. He asked, ‘In our film, where did Govinda come from?’” – Ram Gopal Varma

Ram Gopal Varma began by saying, “I go by my instinct and what I feel. Also probably by the time you reach the end of the post-production, what happens is that you are so used to hearing the dialogues all the time that you get fatigued by it. So, the background score comes as a new element and you tend to fall in love with it. So, rather than hearing the dialogue, you want to hear the music (laughs)! But the audience, who’s watching it for the first time, might get irritated with the loudness.”

He continued, “Company’s (2002) DOP, Hemant Chaturvedi, told me, ‘I walked out of Sarkar in the first 30 minutes. I couldn’t bear the background score’! But there are others who feel that the BGM is the best part of the film! Nevertheless, I tend to use background score a lot. For example, Rakht Charitra (2010) is also a very loud film.”

He then added, “Recently, I saw an interview of KGF director, Prashanth Neel. He uses a very loud background score. He was asked about it and I loved his answer. He replied, ‘I don’t want to give the audience a chance to talk when the film is going on’! I could say the same applies to me though it’s not my idea!”

Coming to Sarkar, which also completed 18 years on July 1, Ram Gopal Varma revealed, “I’ll tell you something very funny about (the film). When I first made Mr Bachchan listen to the ‘Govinda Govinda’ theme in Sarkar, he looked at me as if I'd lost my head. He asked, ‘In our film, where did Govinda come from&’ He didn’t understand what that line meant. I said, ‘Sarkar is a Govinda or Shree Krishna kind of a character. He has all the tricks up his sleeve and doesn’t let people know what he’s thinking and I thought it was the right representation for the soundtrack of your character’. Some nonsense I told him! In reality, it’s a track I used in a Telugu film of mine called Govinda Govinda (1994), starring Nagarjuna and Sridevi. I loved the score so much that I was looking for an opportunity to use it once again. That’s the only reason I put it (in Sarkar).”

Bollywood Hungama recently interviewed Ram Gopal Varma exclusively in his office in Hyderabad. We asked him about it and he said, “(Mr Bachchan’s reaction) was quite sudden. I made him listen to the theme of Sarkar. And the last thing he expected was the word ‘Govinda’ in the theme. Hence, he asked me ‘What is this ‘Govinda Govinda’!”

Also Read: Ram Gopal Varma receives his BTech degree after 37 years; says, “Super thrilled”