‘Ab Tak Chappan dealt with the surface’: Ram Gopal Varma reveals how Harshvardhan Rane stars as ‘a man given the power to decide who lives and who dies’ as ‘Police Company’ goes deeper into encounter policing
Ram Gopal Varma is returning to a subject he knows well with his new film ‘Police Company’, which looks at the dark side of encounter killings by police and how dangerous it becomes when institutions get the power to decide who lives and who dies. In a recent interview, Varma talked about how this film is different from earlier stories based on encounter specialist Daya Nayak, why he thinks ‘Police Company’ is more intense than ‘D Company,’ and why he chose Harshvardhan Rane for the lead role. He also spoke about his long-time interest in the underworld and police force, shared some of his own experiences with the underworld, and gave an update on his other film, ‘Police Station Mein Bhoot’.
Ram Gopal Varma on what sets ‘Police Company’ apart
Speaking to Variety India, Ram addressed how ‘Police Company’ sets itself apart from earlier films in the genre. He said, “Most of those films focused on the action, the body count and the ‘encounter specialist’ image. ‘Police Company’ is not about making any one person the central figure. It is about what happens when the system creates a machine to kill, and then that machine starts developing its own mind, its own loyalties, its own hunger. The difference is simple. The earlier films showed the gun. This one shows the hand that keeps loading it, and what happens when that hand at one point starts shaking.”He further added, “D Company was an organization that became symbolic of underworld power in the way it killed. ‘Police Company’ was an organization that was given the power to erase people without accountability; that’s why. When an institution is given the same freedom that a criminal gang has, it becomes more dangerous because it has legitimacy.”
Ram Gopal Varma on his fascination with encounter policing
When asked what draws him to the subject of encounter policing, he said, “The moral arithmetic. A man is given the power to decide who lives and who dies, and then society pretends it still has clean hands. That contradiction has always fascinated me. Encounter policing is the point where law and lawlessness become the same thing and still call themselves different. ‘Ab Tak Chappan’ just dealt with the surface. ‘Police Company’ dives deep.“
Ram Gopal Varma on casting Harshvardhan Rane
On his decision to cast Harshvardhan Rane in the role of Daya Nayak, he shared, “There is a certain animal stillness in Harshvardhan’s eyes and also an intense serenity. Even when he doesn’t try to look intense, he just is. Harshvardhan understands silence better than most actors understand dialogue.”
Ram Gopal Varma’s earlier underworld films
Earlier, Ram Gopal Varma explored Mumbai’s underworld in films such as ‘Satya’ and ‘Company’.
