RGV in commedy

Ram Gopal Verma loves to shock and this time the director, better known for his macabre dramas and horror flicks has a big surprise up his sleeve for everyone. He is directing a comedy!

Verma who was in the capital to promote his latest offering, supernatural thriller 'Agyaat' will be directing his first full-fledged comedy.

"Yes I will be directing a comedy. I have been thinking about it for a while and basically I just want to have a laugh, have some fun after all the horror films," Verma said.

"I have not zeroed in on anything, but it will be a different film for sure and it will be out next year," added the director.

Verma sure has a wicked sense of humour as the director recently created a furore when he hung dummy corpes on the posters of his film 'Agyaat' in 15 locations in Mumbai.

"We are inundated with images and information and for anything to register it must have a shock value attached to it. It was just a innovative idea to promote the film and I have no clue what was so offensive about it," said Verma adding that controversies seem to follow him wherever he goes.

Verma who is often described by the moniker 'controversial director' stirred a hornet's nest when he reinterpreted the national anthem for his film 'Rann'. Verma filed a case in the Supreme Court when the censor objected to the use of the anthem, terming it a "distortion".

"I don't love controversies. What creates a controversy? When some one does something new and out of the box, people are bound to react and some tend to react in a negative way and then it snowballs into something called a controversy.

But Verma who has run into trouble with the censor again over an item number featuring Priyanka Kothari in 'Agyaat' is unapologetic.

"The fear of creating a controversy will not make me do run of the mill things," said Verma.

The director who is often at the receiving end of scathing media criticism because of his tongue-in-cheek attitude said that he is least bothered about the numerous stories that link him with his leading lady Priyanka Kothari.

"The whole world wants entertainment and these stories are entertaining. That's it. And at least there is no confusion in the media regarding my sexual orientation," said Verma who has been linked to various actresses including Urmila Matondkar and Antara Mali in the past.

The director who is one of the only directors in Bollywood to have stuck to the horror genre, said that fear is the most difficult expression to capture on screen.