"Hate Michael Jackson for dying": Ram Gopal Varma gets emotional after watching biopic
Mumbai, May 22
Ace filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has shared an emotional note on Michael Jackson after watching the biopic 'Michael'.
The director recalled how the "King of Pop" shaped his imagination from his college days and said Jackson's death broke a fantasy he had carried for years.
Varma took to X and wrote a long note, saying he "hates" Michael Jackson for dying because it made him realise that even someone like him was human.
Recalling the day he first heard about Jackson's death in 2009, Varma wrote, "I HATE MICHAEL After watching MICHAEL film, my memory went back to that horrible day June 25 th, 2009 when I slept late with the television still murmuring like a ghost in the darkness of my room, and as I groggily woke up in the morning and my eyes went to the screen to see those terrible white letters against black: "Michael Jackson is Dead."
"For several long seconds, this must be a nightmare, I thought. Why the hell would I even dream something so horrible? But the banner on the tv stayed and the news ticker kept crawling. I reached out to the remote and started switching channels and all anchors were speaking with the same solemn gravity, and I finally realised the impossible had happened," he added.
He further shared how he first watched 'Thriller' in a small video parlour in Vijayawada during his engineering college days. Calling the experience an "invasion", Varma said Jackson's performance changed the way he looked at music and visuals.
"Back in my engineering college days in Vijayawada, on January 2nd 1984, a friend dragged me into a dingy video parlour, insisting I had to see something. The lights got switched off, and then THRILLER hit me like a punch in the gut It was not just a song or a dance. It was an invasion," he wrote.
Varma also said that Jackson's videos became an "unreachable benchmark" for him and many others in cinema. He said songs like 'Beat It', 'Billie Jean', 'Smooth Criminal', 'Black or White', 'Remember the Time' and 'Bad' continued to inspire him.
He ended the note by saying that Jackson's magic will stay with him forever. "Wherever you are now, in whatever dimension, I am sure you are moonwalking across galaxies, creating space storms, with a brilliance which even the stars cannot contain. And I will carry that daze you gave me in that Vijayawada video parlour till i die," he added.
'Michael' stars Jaafar Jackson as the King of Pop. The film recreates several famous looks from Jackson's music videos and performances, including 'Thriller' and 'Beat It'.
— ANI
Reader Comments
It's refreshing to see an Indian filmmaker express such genuine emotion about MJ. The way he describes the VHS parlor in Vijayawada… that's pure nostalgia. And the "hate him for dying" line? That's not anger, that's love speaking. We all felt that void in 2009.
I'm so glad RGV wrote this. MJ was the first global star who made us feel like the world wasn't so big after all. From Vijayawada to every small town in India, he reached us. And yes, his death was heartbreaking. We still miss the magic. 🕊️
While I appreciate the sentiment, I wish we could also remember the controversies surrounding MJ. It's okay to love the art and still question the artist. But yes, his impact on music and dance is undeniable. Varma's emotional honesty is commendable though.
"Creating space storms with brilliance which even stars cannot contain" – that line is poetry. RGV might be controversial, but here he's just a fanboy, and it's beautiful. Michael Jackson was a once-in-a-universe phenomenon. 🎤✨
Ye dil chhoo gaya. I was born in 1998, so I caught MJ late, but when I first saw "Billie Jean" on YouTube, I was stunned. I can only imagine what it must have been like for RGV in 1984 in a dimly lit room in Vijayawada. That was the 80
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