Ram Gopal Varma on his film 12 o'clock: Horror genre will work well in theatres and on OTT (Exclusive)

Eminent director, producer, writer  Ram Gopal Varma is known for his work in Telugu and Hindi films RGV has directed films across multiple genres, including parallel cinema and docudrama gritting realism, technical finesse, and craft. 

Varma loves horror and thriller genre, and most of his films give us chills. The maverick filmmaker is back with a nag with yet another chilling, telling psychological thriller 12 'o'Clock  that hit the theatres today.

The film 12 'o'Clock revolves around a young girl, Gauri, who starts getting traumatised with frightening nightmares and eerie sleepwalking incident. What follows to extricate her from the possession forms the crux of the story.

The film stars Mithun Chakraborty, Makrand Deshpande, Divya Jagdale, Manav Kaul, Ali Azgar, Ashish Vidyarthi, Dalip Tahil, Flora Saini, and debutant Krishna Gautam.

In an exclusive conversation with IBTimes India, Ram Gopal Varma spoke at length about his new film 12 'o'Clock, asserts genres that will work well in cinema halls, growth of OTT platform and his next project.

Excerpts from the conversation:

Your film 12 'o'Clock is the first movie this year hitting the theatres today? What are your expectations from the film?

 I am excited about 12 'o'Clock as in the last one year everything came to a standstill, not only for me but also for the film industry. We shot the film pre COVID. Post the unlocking phase, and we completed the patchwork. The basic delay was for everyone not only for me because of the situation. Talking about the film, I would like to tell my fans that 12 'o'Clock has a concept that many people do not believe in unless a medical community explains it. People who love the psychological thriller genre will surely enjoy the film.

Of late we have seen OTT boom and with a new strain of virus being reportedly, do you think people will watch a film in theatre? 

No doubt that OTT has a bright future.  The audience has a choice of watching the film at home or in theatres. However, there should be a very valid or enticing reason to watch a film in a theatre. Either the content should be exciting, or genre should be great. I think very few genres will work. Out of which horror will work as a lot of it depends on the sound effect, background score and darkening in the theatre, apart from horror and thrillers, people will enjoy watching huge action films in theatres, while dramas and rom-coms will stick to OTT,  I feel.

How will you gauge box office number with 50 per cent occupancy?

Yes, theatrical numbers have been hit.  I think it is a very difficult thing to predict—one as it's 50 per cent occupancy and constant talks of the second wave coming. Few people talking about this are taking this very seriously, and some are just talking about it. There is always an option to watch a film on OTT. I feel that all of us in the film industry will have to start somewhere and endlessly keep working on going ahead.

What do you watch on OTT?

I watch a lot of foreign films and series. I like docudramas as well.

 What next?

My next film is based on Martial Arts, and the film is titled Lakdi. This will be out in the coming months.

The trailer of the film 12 'o' clock