Ram Gopal Varma, a director who has experimented with genres and fared well in dark, gangster and horror films primarily. The director made his name for churning out some of the most influential films as well. Born on April 7, 1962, he celebrates his 56th birthday today. Off late, the director has only been in the news for his controversial statements. He is known to take mean digs at several people from the industry which hasn't really pleased people. But leaving his controversies aside, on his birthday let us look at some of the good films he has given to the Bollywood industry.

Satya: A gangster story, Satya was one of the biggest hits made by Ram Gopal Varma. The film had Manoj Bajpayee, Urmila Matondkar, and Shefali Shah in the lead roles. Satya received huge critical acclaim and it gave him the best director award. The 1998 film has achieved a cult status when it comes to gangster films and the depiction of the underworld.

Rangeela: Ram Gopal Varma dabbled in a romantic movie and Rangeela proved to be a great success. The film starring Aamir Khan, Jackie Shroff and Urmila Matondkar won 7 Filmfare awards in the year 1995. The blockbuster at the box-office was even remembered for its great musical score by AR Rahman.

Bhoot: The film starring Urmila Matondkar and Ajay Devgn in the lead roles was Varma's second horror film experiment. For the early 2000s, it was a good attempt, very different from commercial mainstream cinema. The film did well at the box-office and Urmila Matondkar even won awards for her performance.

Company: Company released in 2002 was another crime drama directed by Varma which was based on underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company. The film starred Ajay Devgn, Vivek Oberoi, Manisha Koirala, and Antara Mali in pivotal roles. The film was hailed as a masterpiece by Varma.

Sarkar: Sarkar, a political drama based loosely on leader Bal Thackeray starring Amitabh Bachchan was another engaging film churned out by the director. The film received such a good response that Varma even got two more sequels of the same. Those too worked but somehow Sarkar remained top-notch.

The director recently even made a documentary called God, Sex and Truth, which not surprising was once again caught up in a controversy. Somehow, Ram Gopal Varma always gets embroiled in these. Varma's next film is called Officer and it will star Nagarjuna. The film will release on May 25, 2018. Let us see if this venture works for Ramu. Happy Birthday, Ram Gopal Varma!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 07, 2018 12:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).