TEMPEST IN A D CUP

Ram Gopal Varma is India's best director (in my humble opinion). And he makes a lot of movies. And when he's not making movies, he's producing movies, a bit like an Indian Tsui Hark. And the RGV-produced films are like the TH-produced vehicles: sometimes they hit and sometimes they miss. But the latests flick he's got his fingerprints on is the gangster film D, a spiritual prequel to his gangster epic COMPANY, and by all accounts it's a hit.

It doesn't hurt that the flick comes with controversy. COMPANY was supposedly a fictionalized account of the friendship and rupture between bigtime crooks Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan, although RGV denies this (a little too hard, actually).

Now, with D coming out, folks are pointing out that Dawood Ibrahim's gang is called D-Company, and claiming similarities. So much so, that Chhota Rajan called someone associated with the movie and told them he didn't want a flick made about his rival. Some fancy fast talking calmed him down and the savvy RGV sez: "I hope at least 10 more tickets would be sold after this so-called controversy." No fool, he.

It just came out in India, so find the nearest theater that shows Bollywood movies in your town (trust me: there's at least one out there, you just have to dig) and get thyself to D.

But first, a review.