Ram Gopal Verma`s associates want him back in action

At Hansal Mehta`s birthday bash last week, many of Ram Gopal Varma`s associates met and discussed him.

Mumbai: At Hansal Mehta`s birthday bash last week, many of Ram Gopal Varma`s associates met and discussed that RGV as he is popularly called is the "fountainhead for all his new-age filmmakers" and that he needs to get back in form.

Mehta is himself a diehard RGV fan. "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," said Mehta, at whose 46th birthday bash, many of Varma`s old associates met. It was a no-media bash at a restaurant where Mehta invited all his technicians, writers and actors. Talking about it, Mehta said: "I felt a bit like Guru Dutt. Except that I didn`t have to sing `Bichhde 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 `Citylights`." Among the crowd that gathered to raise a toast to Mehta were many technicians whom Varma had introduced. Mehta said: "My editor Apoorva Asrani, for example, started his career with Ramu`s `Satya`. He has edited many of my films, including `Citylights`. 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." Now they have all vowed to bring Varma 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," he said.