Hansal wants to produce film for Ramgopal Varma, brings in his 46th birthday with wildest ever party

Hansal Mehta is a diehard Ram Gopal Varma fan. Such is his devotion to Ramu’s earlier cinema that Hansal refuses to believe Ramu is done. “He’s just being stubborn. All he needs to do is listen to people who care for his cinema, correct his mistakes and he’ll be back in form,” asserts Hansal. On Tuesday night (last week) many of Varma’s old associates met at Hansal’s birthday bash. They all decided it was time to bring Ramu back from his self-imposed exile. It was a bit like Raj Kapoor’s grand reunion in Mera Naam Joker. On Tuesday night to bring in his 46th Hansal threw a private no-media bash at a restaurant where he invited all his technicians, writers, actors. Laughs Hansal, “I felt a bit like Guru Dutt. Except that I didn’t have to sing Bichde sabhi baari-baari. They were all there, all my colleagues and associates from my first two directorial ventures Jayate and Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar to the latest Shahid and now City Lights.” Among the crowd who had gathered to raise a toast to Hansal on his 46th birthday were many technicians whom Ram Gopal Varma had introduced. Says Hansal emotionally, “My editor Apoorva Asrani, for example, started his career with Ramu’s Satya. He has edited many of my films including City Lights. We all got down to talking about Ramu. He is the fountainhead for all his new-age filmmakers. The new face of Hindi cinema happened because of Ramu, and we’re all his disciples.” Hansal and the other Ramu-philes at the party on Tuesday have vowed to bring Ramu back to Mumbai from Hyderabad. “It’s time for Ramu to re-invent himself. All of us who believe in his talent will stand by him. He has to be get back into form,” says Hansal.