Ram Gopal Varma shared a deeply emotional note on X after watching the Michael Jackson biopic. RGV recalls seeing Thriller for the first time at a Vijayawada video hall in 1984 and the shock of Jackson’s death in 2009. He described the legend as God’s “special creation” and said he loved and hated him for being human.
Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, who is never shy about voicing his opinion, spoke candidly about what Michael Jackson means to him. After watching the much-talked about biopic ‘Michael’, RGV took to social media to share a heartfelt observation about the King of Pop.
In it, he looks back at the moment he heard about Jackson’s death in 2009 and how much it affected him.
He also remembers watching Thriller for the first time at a small video hall in Vijayawada during his college days, a memory that has stayed with him forever. For RGV, Michael Jackson was not just a global superstar, but nothing less than “God’s special creation.”
RGV recalls the shocking moment he learned of Jackson’s death
Using his X (formerly Twitter), Rahm poured his heart out in a raw and emotional post about the King of Pop.
The director said that he “hated” Michael Jackson because he left the world, because his death broke the illusion that a man of such greatness could truly leave. RGV wrote: “I Hate Michael After watching the movie Michael, my memory went back to that terrible day on June 25, 2009 when I slept late with the TV still muttering like a ghost in the darkness of my room, and when I woke up groggy in the morning and my eyes darted to the screen to see those terrible white letters against the black: “Michael Jackson is dead.
“For several long seconds, this must be a nightmare, I thought. Why the hell am I dreaming of something so terrible? But the banner on the TV remained standing and the news ticker crawled. I reached for the remote and started switching channels and all the announcers were talking with the same majestic gravity, and I finally realized that the impossible had happened.”The director further added, “In my student days at an engineering college in Vijayawada, on January 2, 1984, a friend dragged me into a dingy video parlor, insisting that I must see something. I dimmed the lights, and then THRILLER hit me like a punch in the gut. It wasn’t just a song or a dance. It was an invasion. My eyes, conditioned to a mediocre life, opened violently. Production, choreography, smooth ecstasy Blended into one divine entity.. It was a spectacle on a level I had never imagined possible before and he was at the heart of that storm.
Michael Jackson. He did not move like a human. It slithered, exploded, floated, and took over the screen like a supernatural entity that had just entered a human body for a few minutes of absolute domination. I left that hall in a complete daze, my heart racing, and my mind reeling. This can’t be a real person.
He must be God or at least a fantasy given by the gods to bless us humans on earth. Each of his subsequent music videos raised the bar to a higher level.
beat it. Billie Jean. Criminal smooth. Black or white. Remember the time. Bad, for example.”
Jackson’s work became an unattainable standard for RGV
“Each one was a New Testament, and in every discussion about song photography I had in my career, whether with my team or with other directors, we always came back to his videos. His work became an unattainable standard, a constant source of inspiration and humility. And yes, as I said, it wasn’t just dance. It wasn’t just sound.
It has always been the aura. Was that man an uncontrollable force of gravity and scandal? Disagreements? They never bothered me.
They were background noise. What he has done for my senses and my soul far exceeds anything that a human court or popular magazine could throw at him. To me, he was either God or God’s own creation, and that is exactly why I hate him. I hate Michael Jackson because he died. I hate him because he proved that he was even human. I hate that he also needed oxygen and blood like us. I hate that his heart could stop beating too. I hate that I lived long enough to see these words on CNN: “Michael Jackson’s body sent to the morgue.” He stabbed me in the back. He betrayed my imagination. He left Paradise and became mortal. I hate you Michael because you turned my dream into a nightmare and I love you. I love you more than I can express in words Wherever you are now, no matter how far away, I’m sure you’re moonwalking across galaxies, creating space storms, with a brilliance that even the stars can’t contain. “I will carry that awesomeness you gave me at the video parlor in Vijayawada until I die,” he concluded.
