Satya: Bombay’s underworld, where there’s gunfire and dancing

What is the life of a gangster before and after killing someone? Is waking up early in the morning with murderous intent thrilling or terrifying? Does he come out with an empty stomach or does he sit down and eat breakfast first?

Does he message his girlfriend good morning on this day like Rose? And yes, does he tell his mother that I have to get up early in the morning to send someone?

I don’t know whether such questions arise in you while listening to an incident of murder. But a filmmaker or a storyteller immediately starts piecing together the links in his mind. This was the case of Ram Gopal Varma.

On the morning of August 12, 1997, Ram Gopal Varma was sitting in the office of Jhamu Sugand, the producer of famous films like ‘Rangila’ and ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’. Meanwhile, it was reported on the phone that Gulshan Kumar has been killed.

Jhamu told Verma that Gulshan Kumar woke up at seven in the morning and called me and said that by eight thirty I will go to the temple with a couple of people and from there I will come to your office and meet you.

Meanwhile, some questions started running in Ramu’s mind which we have mentioned above.

These questions gave birth to ‘Satya’ 25 years ago, which is still considered one of the best gangster films of Bollywood.

The imprint of this masterpiece is so deep that whoever later made a film on the underworld could not escape Satya’s influence. They Anurag Kashyap Yes, Vishal Bhardwaj or Vince Upan Aa Time in Mumbai.

Satya was released in 1998. Back then, musical romantic films like ‘Dil Se’, ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ and ‘Pyaar Kya To Darna Kya’ were ruling Bollywood.

(Ram Gopal Varma/IMDB)

Perhaps this was the reason why Satya could not attract the attention of the fans in the beginning. But the 15-20 people who sat down for one show brought the whole crew with them the next time.

This is how the film was promoted. Satya was rerun in the theaters where it had been taken off and eventually this classic film made at a cost of 2.5 crore Indian rupees managed to earn more than 15 crore Indian rupees.

Well regardless of box office success or failure, the film earned the status of a classic due to its unconventionality. This unconventionality is seen everywhere from the film’s story and shooting to the cast.

If you Amitabh Bachchan If I remember the films of Angry Young Man, he was burning in the fire of revenge. His bullying revolved around taking revenge on an individual or society at large for his deprivations.

The trend started with one of Dilip Kumar’s best films ‘Ganga Jamna’ which Amitabh proved to be the biggest blockbuster in the 70s and 80s.

His impression was so deep that even the films made in the nineties could not get rid of this formula. Satya replaced it.

Satya does not want to take revenge from anyone. His mind is a blank white sheet on which no one wrote anything with a crude pencil in his childhood. He is not tainted by the spirit of social reformation like stereotypical Bollywood heroes.

(Ram Gopal Varma/IMDB)

Circumstances plunge him into a hell where he has to become a gangster to survive. Fans do not get to know about his background apart from the deprivations of his childhood.

The film focuses on the general aspects of the life of gangsters, apart from the one-on-one murders. They seem to be laughing, playing, loving, being beaten by their wives like normal people. A world of underworld where there is also shooting and dancing.

They are not larger than life characters but human beings like us. We all want to know what the gangsters do before and after the murder.

How do their daily routines like breakfast and shopping go? Ramu showed in great detail these aspects which were the human face of the gangsters.

(Ram Gopal Varma/IMDB)

An example of unconventionality is the casting of a film. By the 70s, the divide between parallel and popular cinema was very clear and deep.

Back then, no one could have imagined that a foreign and unpopular face could play the lead role in a popular genre film like gangster. Ramu did it.

This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).

Manoj Bajpayee’s role as Bheko Mahatre in particular proved to be a history maker. It later opened the door of popular cinema for many actors like Irrfan Khan.

The entry and success of Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Rajkumar Rao in mainstream Hindi films is a continuation of this.

With the film’s best opening, the words echo in the background, ‘Mumbai is a city that doesn’t sleep, dreams while awake. Where there is high brightness, where there is silent darkness. Where this difference between humans has created a separate world i.e. Mumbai Underworld.’

Ram Gopal Varma doesn’t glamorize the Mumbai underworld, doesn’t put up big sets, but presents the hubbub of narrow streets, buffalo sheds, posh bar rooms and modest flats with dirty walls.

There is no tension, no manipulation between the real life of Bombay and the eye of the camera.

It is not known what the Bombay underworld is like today. But how was it 25 years ago? Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya is a great movie to know this.