Ram Gopal Varma is one of the most acclaimed directors in the film industry. But imagine meeting him and not recognising who he is? Sounds impossible, right? Not really, because that’s exactly what happened to veteran actor Gajraj Rao.
In a recent episode of Mid-day’s podcast series The Bombay Film Journey, Rao shared a hilarious incident from his early days in the industry. He recalled chatting with Ram Gopal Varma for about 20 minutes without realising who he was speaking to.
When Gajraj Rao failed to recognise Ram Gopal Varma
It happened during the time Sanjay Leela Bhansali was casting for Khamoshi. A bunch of people had gathered, and Rao was sitting a little away from the crowd. A gentleman from the South was seated next to him. Rao thought it was a good time to strike up a conversation, completely unaware of the man’s identity.
Narrating the incident with a bright smile, Gajraj said, “My broken English, his slightly Tamil or Telugu-accented English, and we had this long conversation.”
“Meanwhile, I noticed this group of 6–7 people staring in our direction. I couldn’t understand why they were looking at me,” he continued. “So I just kept chatting with the gentleman for 15–20 minutes.”
After the conversation ended and the man walked away, the group came up to him and asked, “Gajju, what was that? What did Ramu say?” Unaware of what they were talking about, Rao responded, “Ramu? Who Ramu?” What came next left him stunned, he had been talking to none other than Ram Gopal Varma.
When Gajraj Rao bought tickets in black
Revealing his admiration for RGV, Rao said, “We had watched Shiva at Regal Cinema, 22 of us from the theatre group had bought black tickets to watch it. And we were blown away, like, how can someone pull off such a climax?”
Reflecting on the moment, he added, “I said, ‘Oh no, I totally missed that. I didn’t even say anything. I didn’t tell him I wanted to work with him.’ But he (RGV) understood. He got it, because at that time, directors` faces weren’t very well known.”
Still in disbelief, a friend of his nudged further and asked, “‘Gajju, just tell me what the conversation was about. I won’t tell anyone.’ He thought I was hiding something, like I was throwing a sheet over it.”
Gajraj Rao’s hilarious confession
While this memory continues to live rent-free in Rao’s heart, he also shared how he finally confessed it to Ram Gopal Varma during the shoot of Dil Se. “We were in Madras, shooting, and I said to him, ‘Sir, the other day we met…’ and he said, ‘Yeah, yeah, I know.’”
“There was a smile on his face that said, ‘You didn’t recognize me, did you?’” he concluded.