We often hear about film-makers spending hours with costume designers to ascertain the ‘look’ of their characters. After all, for an actor, looking the part is half the battle won! Therefore, it comes as no surprise that most films have a large budget allocated for clothes and styling.

This is not standard practice for Ram Gopal Varma though. His brand of cinema involves actors looking as real as possible. And keeping in line with this philosophy, Paresh Rawal, who plays a corrupt politician in Rann, put his own look together. Confirms Paresh, “Yes, the kumkum (red powder) on the forehead and the dhoti-kurta look in the promos was my idea. In fact the kumkum happened quite by chance actually. I was planning just a teeka but in my hurry to report for the shot it got smudged and so I just smeared a lot of kumkum on my forehead and went for the shot. Ramu, of course, loved the results!” The kumkum does lend a rather evil air to the character Paresh plays in Rann. We’re sure his fans will lap up his performance considering he is featuring in a negative role after long!

Ram Gopal Varma's ‘Rann’ is out worldwide on 29th January. It is an Indian Films-Studio 18 international release.