Surya-Ram Gopal Varma joining hands again

The never-say-die Ram Gopal Varma is not about to give up that easily. Barely a week after the debacle of Surya's Hindi launch Rakta Charitra - 2, the indefatigable Ramu has already decided to go ahead with another film as a proper launch for the Southern superstar in Hindi, this time a more conventional romantic-action drama.

The blame game has begun. Apparently, the people behind RC - 2 feel the Southern sensation Surya didn't give the film that promotional pitch it required either in Mumbai or in Chennai with the result that Rakta Charitra has bombed in both Hindi and Surya's home-language Tamil.

The soft-spoken Surya defends himself manfully. "Over here (in Tamil cinema) we don't really go all-out to promote and market our films the way they do in Bollywood. You could say our marketing is more subtle. I don't go out and sell any of my films to the audience. However, for Rakta Charitra - 2, I did make an effort to do more publicity than I usually do. Earlier, this week RGV (director Ram Gopal Varma) and I flew to Madurai to meet the audience and fans. This is something I haven't done before."

How does Surya explain RC - 2's under-performance at the box office in both Hindi and Tamil?

Says Surya, "Rakta Charitra - 2 was never meant to be a film for all tastes. Its intense violent theme was always a deterrent to a mass audience. Even my most violent films have a family base in the plot or there's a love story behind the violence. In Rakta Charitra there was no digression from the intense theme...all in all, no regrets. I'd love to do another film with RGV."

Surya is still recovering from the back injury that prevented him from being in Mumbai during the promotion of the Hindi RC.

Says Surya, "The doctors have asked me to take it easy."