Happy Birthday to Ram Gopal Varma, award-winning Indian producer, writer and director, born on April 7, 1962, in Hyderabad.  Ram Gopal is known especially for his horror films and his underworld crime films, as well as his willingness to experiment with different genres.  He started his career as an assistant director in the Telugu film industry, eventually making his debut as a director with ‘Siva’ (1989, winning the Nandi Award for Best Director.  In 1990, ‘Siva’ was remade as the Hindi film ‘Shiva’. Some of his more important films are: ‘Rangeela’ (1995), won the Filmfare Best Story Award, ‘Dil Se…’ (1998), ‘Company’ (2002), ‘Bhoot’ (2003), ‘Sarkar’ (2005), and ‘The Attacks of 26/11’ (2013), a docudrama. ‘Satya’, made in 1998, won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie. Realistic and gritty, the film reinvented the way crime stories are made in Indian cinema. Ram was awarded a National Film Award for Scripting for the socio-political drama ‘Shool’ (1999). His films are both Telugu and Hindi and they often do not have song and dance numbers.