Ram Gopal Varma announces film on Arnab Goswami, names it Arnab: The News Prostitute

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has announced a film on television anchor Arnab Goswami, titled Arnab: The News Prostitute. He is yet to announce the actor who will play the central character.

The filmmaker shared this news in as many as 15 tweets fired one after the other. In his usual direct style, without mincing words, Varma slammed Goswami for the way he has been anchoring the news coverage on his television channel of the death by suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput and for allegedly insulting the film industry.

“Was shocked to see Arnab Goswami talking about Bollywood [as commercial Hindi cinema is often called] in such a horrible way. He calls it the dirtiest industry ever with criminal connections, [saying] it’s full of rapists, gangsters, sexual exploiters and whatnot.” the filmmaker wrote.

Varma is especially furious at the manner in which Goswami has been conflating the deaths of Divya Bharti, Jiah Khan, Sridevi and Rajput. Divya Bharti died in 1993, Jiah Khan in 2013, Sridevi in 2018 and Rajput in June this year.

“It beats me in what dumb way Arnab Goswami can combine the deaths of Divya Bharti, Jiah Khan, Sridevi and Sushant into one case and claim that the murderer is Bollywood," Varma went on. "In all four cases, there were completely different people and circumstances. But in Arnab’s mind they are all one and were killed by an entity called Bollywood.”

Varma urged the big names of the film industry to speak up against Goswami. “Why the hell are you guys Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Mahesh Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and so many others so scared of the barking Arnab Goswami that you are hiding under the tables of your plush offices?” he railed.

Varma gave another message to the industry bigwigs, saying, “My one last word of advise to Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Mahesh Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and many others is that it’s not enough to create heroes in films and be heroes in films, but it’s also important to stand up to villains like Arnab Goswami.” 

Varma’s film won’t be the first to have a character modelled on Goswami. In Vishal Mishra’s Coffee With D (2017), Sunil Grover had played a character named Arnab, who had shades of Goswami.