Ram Gopal Varma on God, Sex and Truth: 'GST attempts to bring sex out into the open instead of hiding it under the bed sheets'

To say that filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has pushed the envelope when he unveiled the poster of his latest project, GST — God, Sex and Truth, would be an understatement. After sharing his candid views on pornography and sex for years altogether, this time, he has collaborated with American adult star Mia Malkova to reiterate his views on the subject through her.

Not long ago, in an interview, he confessed, “I begin my day by watching porn for 15 minutes followed by a documentary or a film. It gives me an instant high which lasts all day.” If his views were not blunt enough, what he has done now just reaffirms his views. “I’ve always believed that power and sex are the only ultimate prime movers in life. Power has always been looked up to whereas sex is looked down upon. I found a common believer of this philosophy in Mia Malkova,” RGV says.

And Mia too agrees that it was their similar views on sex that led them to collaborate with each other for GST. “It’s a projection of our common beliefs,” she says. That’s not all. The duo has also worked on a feature film, which is soon in the offing!

A couple of years ago, when RGV wrote Guns and Thighs : The Story Of My Life, he had included another adult star’s (Tori Black) name, along with Ayn Rand, Bruce Lee, Urmila Matondkar and Amitabh Bachchan, in the list of people he had dedicated the book to. Explaining his admiration for Tori, RGV stated, “I saw an interview of Tori Black where she spoke about her decision to foray into the porn industry. I’ve never seen so much purity, strength and clarity in thought. I don’t know Mother Teresa and what she did because I’m not into charity or welfare work. Tori Black contributed more to my life than Mother Teresa.”

Not surprisingly, RGV confesses to being equally enamoured by Mia’s clarity about why she chose her profession. “When I began interacting with her, I asked her a question about what factors compelled her to get into porn and her answer blew me away. She said that the only reason she got into porn is because she loves sex and the porn world is the safest and the best place to explore sex in all its forms. I have never met a more clear-headed and a more intelligent person than Mia Malkova. She immediately understood my intention on why I want to do this project and also the need for such thoughts to be out there in the open.”

So what exactly does GST talk about which has not been stated already? The video’s trailer has a melange of quotes ranging from Sigmund Freud to Friedrich Nietzsche, along with Mia addressing the viewer about sex among many other things. RGV himself had been a vocal supporter of the idea that sex is liberating and porn is an instant stimulant.

“God, Sex and Truth attempts to bring sex out into the open instead of hiding it under the bed sheets. Power has been given its due place in the manner of action films but sex has always been relegated to films meant only for instant gratification. GST attempts to show a woman and her sexuality in an unimaginably beautiful form,” he says, adding, “If you want to only focus on a beautiful body, then there are thousands of videos available on the net. What makes GST different from the rest is Mia’s words, which give a context to her body. From the reactions that I’ve got so far, it’s very clear that people are really and very seriously listening to her words. The same words, if spoken by a social psychologist or a yogi like Rajneesh, will not have even a fraction of the impact compared to being spoken by a beautiful naked girl.”

By her own admission, Mia is pretty clear that the video underlines the need to lose hypocrisy and relish sex for what it is. “This is something I have always felt strongly about and is the way I have chooses to live my life regardless of others opinions. I loved the fact that RGV wanted to bring the topic of sexual liberation out into the open especially from a woman’s perspective,” she opines.

Further, in a statement that he issued to the media recently, RGV stated, “The video captures her every thought in the process of projecting it in almost a spiritual context within her deeply felt and also inbuilt sexual emotions". Mia justifies RGV’s statement saying, “I believe that any thought or a feeling which is honest and naturally pure has a spiritual context because it touches one’s soul. A naked body is beautiful when shown willingly and with honesty.”

In the middle of all this debate about sexuality, pornography and sex itself, a counterview has been that of morality. However, RGV opines that linking the two is quite counterproductive. “Man has made massive advances in terms of art, technology, social progress and so on but he couldn’t invent a single thing which gives more happiness and more pleasure than sex. The suppression of sexual pleasure is one of the key ingredients to suppress the freedom of an individual. An example is North Korea punishing anyone, caught watching porn, to death. Unlike the countries which live under a dictatorship, leaders of free societies tend to curb it through religious, moral and social structures which induce guilt. There is no stronger force than guilt in one’s own mind. I believe that sex is just a pleasurable act and to attach it to morality will be counterproductive. A human being lives for what he or she wants to do but is mostly forced to do what he has to do. The residue of the conflict between wanting to do and having to do is guilt which is a product of morality and there lies the connection.”

If the content of GST was not shocking enough for most people, then music director MM Keeravani’s name in the credits list certainly was. Having scored music for Baahubali, Annamayya, Sri Ramadasu, Shirdi Sai, Jism, Criminal and several other blockbuster films over the years, perhaps no one imagined that Keeravaani would come on board this particular project, so to speak.

Ask RGV about how he managed to convince the stalwart musician to score music for a video that is so explicit in its content, pat comes the reply, “He is someone who has a very objective, and also, an incisive mind. Unlike me, he is a devotee of godly entities but he also respects any creation of God and sex, of course, is God created. When I first approached him for this project and showed him the film, I told him that it is his talent which I want and I will understand if he does not want his name to be attached because of the subject matter. After listening to me, he said that he will feel dishonest if he doesn’t put his name on it because he connected to the honesty of both the project and the subject matter. Moreover, he’s an artist and art is about responding to a given emotion which the artist has been subjected to, irrespective of what he feels about its content. He can compose music to a love scene, a tearful scene, a comic scene, a horror scene, a torture scene, or a killing scene — each of which he is not necessarily directly connected to, but it is the artist in him who is daring to respond to what he is seeing, listening and feeling. Having said that, this is my personal reading of him but a deeper explanation can be only given by him.”

Interestingly, the project is pitched as a “philosophical treatise” by Mia who admits that this was unlike anything that she has ever experienced or felt while working in the adult entertainment industry. “I had to tap into different emotions that I am not really used to sharing with others. It’s almost like searching for your own soul and discover the real truth. I am honored to be involved with something so original and so honest,” Mia says.

For all the rhetoric that both of them have put forth to describe their project, there is one question that has been lingering in everyone’s mind, ever since RGV announced the details about GST — has he made a porn film? The moment this question comes up, RGV has the most RGVesque reply. “That depends upon one’s definition of pornography. It doesn’t have any sexual acts but in some societies, even the mere show of an ankle can be considered as pornography.”

Let us just say that at this moment, God alone knows the truth of RGV-Mia Malkova’s GST. Because, in RGV’s own words, it is just a prelude to what he really has in mind. “I’m just scratching the surface of what I want to do in future,” RGV says. And all we can say is — Oh, My God!

Published Date: Jan 20, 2018 14:09 PM | Updated Date: Jan 20, 2018 14:09 PM