Aug 12, 2026 10:00pm IST
Ram Gopal Varma: ‘Encounter Policing is When Law And Lawlessness Become The Same Thing’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma returns to familiar territory with “Police Company,” a film that explores the darker side of encounter policing and the dangerous machinery created when institutions are given the power to decide who lives and who dies. In a candid conversation with Variety India, Varma explains how the film differs from earlier stories inspired by encounter specialist Daya Nayak, why he believes “Police Company” will be more dangerous than “D Company,” and what drew him to Harshvardhan Rane for the role.
He also reflects on his decades-long fascination with the underworld and police force, his experiences with the underworld, and the status of “Police Station Mein Bhoot.”
Films that have been inspired by Daya Nayak’s life already exist. How different is ‘Police Company’ going to be?
Most of those films focused on the action, the body count and the “encounter specialist” image. “Police Company” is not about making any one person the central figure. It is about what happens when the system creates a machine to kill, and then that machine starts developing its own mind, its own loyalties, its own hunger. The difference is simple. The earlier films showed the gun. This one shows the hand that keeps loading it, and what happens when that hand at one point starts shaking.
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Why will ‘Police Company’ be more dangerous than ‘D Company’?
“D Company” was an organization that became symbolic of underworld power in the way it killed. “Police Company” was an organization that was given the power to erase people without accountability; that’s why. When an institution is given the same freedom that a criminal gang has, it becomes more dangerous because it has legitimacy.
What made you cast Harshvardhan Rane as Daya Nayak?
There is a certain animal stillness in Harshvardhan’s eyes and also an intense serenity. Even when he doesn’t try to look intense, he just is. Harshvardhan understands silence better than most actors understand dialogue.
You’ve known Daya Nayak since 1997. Recount your first meeting with him.
I remember the energy more than the exact conversation. There was an infectious vibrance in him. He is a man who had already seen too much and was still being asked to see more. Some people leave a mark in five minutes. He was one of them.
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‘Ab Tak Chhappan,’ which you produced, was also about an encounter squad. What fascinates you about encounter policing?
The moral arithmetic. A man is given the power to decide who lives and who dies, and then society pretends it still has clean hands. That contradiction has always fascinated me. Encounter policing is the point where law and lawlessness become the same thing and still call themselves different. “Ab Tak Chappan” just dealt with the surface. “Police Company” dives deep.
What is the status of ‘Police Station Mein Bhoot’?
Post-production is on.
Why have you remained fascinated with the underworld and police force for so many decades?
Because both are about power and the underworld shows naked hunger. The police show hunger in uniform. The space between the two is where the real human story is. I am not bored with that space, nor will I ever be.
Have you ever faced the ire of the underworld?
I have received messages. I never made films to please them or to fight them. I made films because the world they operated in was more interesting than most of the worlds we pretend to live in. That attracts both admiration and anger.
Your favorite gangster films of all time?
From “Godfather” to “Dhurandhar.”
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