How Ram Gopal Varma linked his films to Dawood Ibrahim?

In an interview with Filmfare, Ram Gopal Varma said that the real Mumbai underworld inspired his famous crime films Satya and Company. He claimed that without people like Dawood Ibrahim, these movies, and even his career, might not have existed. He also revealed that he had dedicated his autobiography Guns & Thighs to Dawood Ibrahim, but the publishers later removed Dawood's name.

Varma said, "If Dawood Ibrahim was not there, I would not have made Satya and Company. I am earning my living because of him." He further said that Dawood and his gang watched his films and liked them. According to him, he never received any threatening calls from the underworld because they were fans of Satya and Company and "didn't want to bother" him. Varma even said that he became their "soul mate."

About Satya and Company

The 1998 film Satya featured actors like J.D. Chakravarthy, Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpayee, Shefali Shah and Saurabh Shukla. The story is about Satya, a man who comes to Mumbai for work but, after being wrongly sent to jail, gets pulled into the world of crime. The 2002 film Company starred Ajay Devgn, Vivek Oberoi and South Indian star Mohanlal.

The movie is a fictional take on the Mumbai underworld and is said to be inspired by the real-life fallout between Dawood Ibrahim and his former aide Chhota Rajan.

Backlash over Dawood's comments

This is not the first time Ram Gopal Varma has praised Dawood Ibrahim publicly. Earlier, on Teacher's Day, he had called Dawood an "inspiration" in a social media post. In that post, he first praised well-known figures like Amitabh Bachchan, Steven Spielberg, Ayn Rand, Bruce Lee, and Sridevi. Then he added Dawood Ibrahim's name, which angered many people online, who accused him of glorifying a gangster.

RGV's upcoming films

On the work front, Ram Gopal Varma is currently busy with new films. Some of the projects he is working on include Syndicate and Sarkar 4.
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