After making his first original Hindi film, Rangeela (1995), with Aamir Khan, and his second, Daud (1997), with Sanjay Dutt, Varma wrong-...
After making his first original Hindi film, Rangeela (1995), with Aamir Khan, and his second, Daud (1997), with Sanjay Dutt, Varma wrong-footed everyone by hiring a bunch of nobodies for his next project. Satya’s credits read like an honour roll today. In 1997, an average moviegoer would have been hard-pressed to recognise more than three names. There was Anurag Kashyap, in his mid-twenties, all restless energy and no screen credit to show for it. Saurabh Shukla, with two acclaimed, little-seen films under his belt in a two-film-old career. Manoj Bajpayee, going stir-crazy after months of bit parts and TV work, hungry for a chance to explode onscreen. Vishal Bhardwaj, building a reputation as a composer, nursing a dream of directing one day. Makarand Deshpande and Apurva Asrani, Sandeep Chowta and Aditya Srivastava, all standing around on the ground floor, waiting for the elevator.
It’s perfect, this moment. Satya, before it was a film, before the accolades, a cloud of possibility and potential. Everyone at the start of their careers, drinking cheap alcohol in one-room apartments, complaining, plotting their takeover of Bollywood.
The film opened on 3 July 1998. For the first day or two, collections weren’t encouraging. The newcomers gulped. Varma, too, must have wondered if he...
