Ram Gopal Varma's Rann about the growing power and hunger for news in the electronic medium is actually inspired by Irving Wallace's 1982 bestseller, The Almighty
You heard it here first. Ram Gopal Varma's Rann about the growing power and hunger for news in the electronic medium is actually inspired by Irving Wallace's 1982 bestseller, The Almighty.
It was foretold...
In the book, the author had envisaged the day when the hunger for news would get the better of a free and fair reporting that underlines all ethical codes of journalism. Wallace's novel envisaged a frightening future where the craving to put out sensational news would get so insatiable that sections of the media would actually manufacture news to feed the public's insatiable appetite for media titillation.
"And that day has actually come. We see news channels so desperate for news that they cross all limits. The greatest enemy of the news channels is the remote control. One flick and the TRPs are gone," says Ramu. The lead character played by Amitabh Bachchan is that of the media baron Edward Armstead, the media messiah in the book. Ramu doesn't deny the similarities. "Mr Bachchan's character in Rann is a man who must stop his media empire from going on the skids. Of course, I'm familiar with Wallace's novel. And yes, there are certain similarities. Wallace foresaw the cut-throat competitiveness in the news business 30 years ago."
So does Ramu expect a 'Rann-in' with the powers-that-be over the controversial subject? "Well, it is about power and greed for news that's gripped a section of the media. I've never shied away from taking the bull by the horns." Speaking of controversies, the controversial new-age version of Indian's sacrosanct national anthem, which Sarim Momin wrote for Rann is now being replaced by the original version of the anthem. "But the visuals would be mocking what the anthem speaks about so emotionally about. The version of Jana Gana Mana written specially for Rann is subjudice. So we're knocking it out of the film. Whether we can replace it with the original version of the anthem without raising the hackles of moralists is now being looked into," says Ramu.
