If you think of Karan Johar, it is likely that your social media-fogged brain will conjure up an image of a man dressed in ostentatious clothes, sipping coffee on a couch and dishing out salacious Bollywood gossip. But chances are that much like in his carefully curated movies, it is a character he has created exaggerating a tiny part of himself to entertain you. “Koffee with Karan gave the world a perception that is not entirely me. It is a fun, irreverent talk show. But people started judging my films because of this perceived persona. I am not taken seriously as a filmmaker. There is a certain flippancy because I wear fashionable clothes. The perception of me has taken a beating because of Koffee with Karan but now I have stopped fighting it. I am neither defiant nor apologetic,” says Karan as he sits for the interview while getting his hair trimmed. The man has an easy charm about him. At 52, he is fitter and, looking more dapper and confident than ever. But today the quintessential KJo flamboyance seems a bit subdued. “I am in my monochromatic phase,” he quips.
Coat by Kanika Goyal Label | Eyewear by Tom Ford
Whatever phase of fashion he might be in, what remains constant is his ability to be the talk of the town. His wardrobe might have been one of the outlets for his creative expression, but he is not a man who can be boxed in his designer boxy shirts. You can love him, you can hate him, but you can never ignore him. “I love the love, and I can handle the hate, what I fear is irrelevance. I will take the fatigue of fame, the pitfalls that come with it, but I will break the day I find that
I have become irrelevant to the world,” he says. And in the past three years, especially during the lockdown, he has faced a kind of hate that no Indian celebrity has encountered thus far. In fact, my first interview with Karan was for a Father’s Day cover story that was to be published on Sun, 21 June 2020, just a week after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. The online hate the magazine and I got for the interview—I was called a ‘sell-out’ by ‘friends’ and strangers—was beyond bizarre. And the trollers didn’t even spare Karan’s toddlers. That was still just the beginning of the social media vitriol that the man had to eventually go through. “I think the trolling and the online hate that I have received in the last few years have given me wings to fly, it gave me abandon—I now feel that if that didn’t break me, nothing can. I am okay with online hate; now I only have pity for those people.”
A director, producer, talk show host, reality TV judge, actor, businessman, investor, social media influencer, and today a brand in his own, Karan Johar knows the pulse of the audience and has also aced the craft of playing on that, making him an astute businessman. This was possibly best reflected in recent times in his decision to acquire the rights to present SS Rajamouli's magnum opus Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and its sequel, Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017) in the North belt under his banner, Dharma Productions. His marketing genius had a considerable role in making the franchise
the huge pan-Indian success it became and turning it into one of the highest-grossing Indian film franchises.
He took over the mantle of Dharma Productions in 2004, after the passing of his father Yash Johar, who had established the production house in 1976. Over the years he has not only managed to preserve his father's legacy but has turned Dharma into one of the biggest production houses in the country. All this, amid the entry of foreign corporate studios into the Indian film industry which led to many local production houses shutting down. Today, Dharma Productions has three new verticals along with their film production unit—Dharma 2.0 focuses on advertising, DCA (Dharma Cornerstone Agency) is into talent management, and Dharmatic Entertainment works on OTT content and has just drop the Ananya Pandey-starrer series, Call Me Bae on Amazon Prime Video this week. With a net worth estimated at Rs 1,400 crore by the recently released Hurun India Rich List 2024, he is one of the richest Indian celebrities.
Jacket by Bloni | Jeans by Acne Studios | Eyewear by Off-White™ | Accessories by CollardManson | Sneakers by Balenciaga
If his name has become synonymous with the frothy franchise of Student of the Year that has doubled up as ‘the launchpad of star kids’, he has also given crucial breaks to over a dozen of fresh filmmakers like Ayan Mukerji, Punit Malhotra, Karan Malhotra, and Shakun Batra. He is also the force behind some of the most important conversation starters of Bollywood in the last few decades including Kapoor & Sons, My Name Is Khan, Raazi, Dear Zindagi, and Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, and the man behind the box office success of a movie like The Lunch Box—made by a debutant independent filmmaker starring a great story but no massy face. “I felt it was a movie that needed a mainstream release in India. In 2013, it did 22-crore net box office. It was a time when Irrfan was breaking the mainstream, Nawaz (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) was relatively new, and Nimrat (Kaur) was making her debut. It was the power of storytelling that shone through,” says Karan who has more recently roped in another indie filmmaker Rima Maya, whose short film Nocturnal Burger got critical acclaim at its premier at Sundance Film Festival 2023, to direct the series adaptation of his Student of the Year franchise.
As a director, between Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023), he has helmed 10 films, out of which all the feature-length ones were box office hits while the clutter-breaking shorts have established his versatility as a storyteller. A keen observer of society, he has given social dramas a big-budget glitzy update.
His is the quiet courage of the ‘Fun Guy’ who makes a difference without creating much of a hue and cry. His cinema is not designed as a vehicle to carry a message, but it is seldom devoid of one. In Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, he made a nation fall in love with a ‘tomboy’ heroine, a rare occurrence in Hindi cinema—so much so that when she started conforming to traditional gender roles, the audience was mighty miffed. “The gender politics of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is definitely questionable. Especially the part where she got the love of her life only after becoming conventionally beautiful,” he readily admits. “My reference points then were the movies I had watched; I was not sensitised to gender politics as I am today,” he adds. But nonetheless the movie was not all song and dance; it had its roots in his own lived experiences—the experiences that almost all ‘misfits’ of the world have in common. “I was not a normal boy, I didn’t walk, talk, or behave the way boys were supposed to while growing up. There was this desire to be accepted. I wanted to be one of many; I didn’t want to stand out. Not back then. Today, would I raise my son with those prejudices? Of course not. But in those days, it was not easy if you were not like the other boys—I was called names at times. It is never a nice thing. That might have unconsciously seeped into the character of Anjali who was also then called a ‘tomboy’—a term today not deemed to be politically correct. She didn’t fit into the conventional idea of a woman and was fighting for acceptance. Today, at 52, I can say that be the person you are, but back then, it was important for me, as it was for Anjali, to fit in.”
Clothes by RHYCNI | Eyewear by Givenchy | Accessories by Rick Owens and INOX Jewelry | Shoes by Balenciaga x Crocs
Is it also one of the reasons why he veers towards making feel-good popcorn films? Is it his way of trying to become part of the gang, to fit in, to be accepted, and be liked by all? “Yes, when I started off as a filmmaker, I wanted that acceptance in abundance. I wanted the industry to embrace me, I wanted other filmmakers to like me, I wanted the critics, intellectuals and the mainstream audience to love my work, and I wanted to be Miss Congeniality...I wanted to win the popularity contest within the industry and outside. But today I have understood that you can’t win them all. Today I am not seeking any of it, I am happy the way I am as long as I am not hurting anyone or trampling on anyone’s toes. I am a staunch believer in Karma. There is a line in a Yash Chopra song: Tera karam hi teri vijay hai. I believe in building karma points—I don’t want to collect watches or cars or gadgets; I want to collect karma points,” says Karan.
But Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was not the only movie imbued with his own lived experiences; the autobiographical elements have time and again made it into his cinema. “From the depiction of Anjali as the awkward teenage girl to the young chubby Rohan Raichand in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... who, like me in my younger days, couldn’t tie his shoelaces, right up to Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani ‘s Chandon Chatterjee (the character essayed by Tota Roy Chowdhury), a man who loves to dance... it all had glimpses of me. Be it to old Bollywood songs or by creating my version of Kathak—I absolutely loved to dance. And I knew that the way I danced was not accepted by the people around me at the time. Later, I realised the only way to dance is to dance like no one is watching. So, Tota’s character, even if not autobiographical, it is definitely a part of me, it is a slice of my life, especially the part where he talks about how he was shamed by his peers. But where I differ from the character is how the father reacted to his dancing—let alone shaming me, my dad was mighty proud of my dancing and would make me dance in front of his friends not realising that I don’t dance like a boy...he loved everything I did. Without even realising it, he was the most liberal and progressive father any child could have had—he never found anything unusual in me, he never forced me to play football or asked me beta why are you dancing to Lataji’s songs. I never went through that duress that Tota’s character did, but I know of so many people who did.”
Maybe this is one of the reasons why his endorsing a movie like Dostana, in which many discerned homophobic undertones, didn’t sit well with many. “It was criticised for its stereotypical depiction of homosexuality. To me, the more important thing was that it addressed homosexuality in the mainstream for the first time. It started conversations inside Indian drawing rooms which were, till then, almost unaware to words like gay, LGBTQIA+, and homosexuality. Prior to this, the LGBTQIA+ conversations were happening in the alternative space. Dostana was the beginning of a massive movement,” says Karan. He would go on to also produce the extremely nuanced Kapoor & Sons.
But it was Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh, a short film directed by him about a gay man stuck in a traditional marriage, which was part of the 2013 anthology film Bombay Talkies, that probably truly reveals his true voice. The gritty and poignant movie that dealt with homosexuality and took India's heteronormativity and homophobia head on, was unlike the glossy blockbusters Karan Johar was till then known for. Who is the real Karan Johar then? “Well, I can do both! When I directed that short, all I wanted was to fit into the Zoya- Anurag-Dibakar club. I am a Gemini and you get two for one. I can do a Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... and I can do a Bombay Talkies/Ajeeb Dastaan Hai Yeh,” he chortles. “While I can do the popcorn movies, I am also capable of making what people call ‘alternate cinema’ or ‘intellectual cinema’. I think sometimes I undermine and undersell myself...but that’s also the Gemini in me!”
Clothes by RHYCNI | Eyewear by Givenchy | Accessories by Rick Owens and INOX Jewelry | Shoes by Balenciaga x Crocs
Maybe he didn’t always get the gender politics right, maybe his approach was, at times, not the most suitable, and maybe like Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’s Rocky Randhawa, sometimes, he was also unknowingly a victim of the patriarchal conditioning of our society: “We all thought this was normal/We never had an inkling it was wrong/I didn’t know that saying this may hurt others’ feelings.” Maybe it is also Karan speaking through Rocky’s poignant monologue.
But unlike most directors who had started in the same era when Bollywood was not woke, he at least attempted topics that were a taboo in the mainstream. Maybe, he himself was or still is a victim of this society’s gender politics.
Talking Shop: Karan Johar answers 5 burning questions plaguing Bollywood today
We couldn’t let one of the most astute observers of the Hindi film industry who also happens to be one of its most influential stakeholders leave without talking business.
What are the biggest challenges faced by film producers today?
This is an exceptionally evolving time vis-à-vis the audience space. Before the pandemic, the high-content, mid-budget movies like Neerja, Pink, Kapoor & Sons, were performing in the 70-to 90-crore-window. But now such films are doing half the business. There was a time when a certain star doing a certain kind of movie was assuring a certain box office. But that is not the case anymore. Films are either exceptionally underperforming or overperforming. While you have a high-concept film like Stree2 hit it out of the park, there are films helmed by massive stars that have opened to abysmal numbers. Then there is this case of excessive content with the streaming services churning out stuff at their optimum level. There is also content on television. And it doesn’t help that going for movies—with tickets, refreshments and even the commute cost skyrocketing—has become extremely expensive. Also, while earlier in India, cricket and movies were the two top forms of entertainment, now we have new entrants—travel and experientials—those industries have exponentially expanded and those have also become preferences.
What is future of mainstream cinema according to you?
Filmmakers must think beyond stars, go for high-concept films, and experiment with unusual narratives. The film must be the superstar; the superstars won’t get you the audience. The templatised been-there-done- that kind of filmmaking is not going to work anymore. Now it is go fresh, or go home. The production of Hindi films has dropped by about 50 per cent. Actors must adjust their remunerations.
Do you think that is possible to bring down the remuneration of actors?
It is not a possibility but an eventuality—it has to happen, there is no other way. Let the actors have skin in the game, let them have a part of the profit, let them earn as per the performance of their movies—you can’t open to a number and charge 10x of that.
Are we viewing South cinema and Bollywood through two different lenses, and that there is an unwarranted Bollywood bashing?
Today, we have become soft targets because we have allowed it. Unlike the other film industries, we have not always managed to show solidarity, thereby exposing our vulnerability. Also, unlike actors or filmmakers from the South, we are exceptionally sensitive to what is happening on social media. The more available you make yourself, the more vulnerable you become.
With Indian content now reaching a global audience like never before, how do you see Bollywood evolving to cater to them?
I think we should not look at catering to any audience but our own. If a Hollywood opportunity opens up, no doubt that would be a massive step and you can leverage and celebrate it. But you can’t make a film both for India and the West. Movies like RRR and Lagaan were made for the Indian audience, and it so happened that it resonated with the world audience. You can’t plan these. If you do, you will fall flat on your face. You can’t design a film for a multiverse audience.
CREDITS:
Editor: Shivangi Lolayekar (@shivangil23)
Art Director: Hemali Limbachiya (@hema_limbachiya)
Creative Producer: Suprit Parulkar (@supritparulkar)
Production Manager: Karan Manjrekar (@karanmanjrekar_)
Hair: Aalim Hakim (@aalimhakim) and Mustaqeem Salmani (@mustaqeem_salmani)
Makeup: Paresh Kalgutkar (@paresh_kalgutkar)
Assistant Stylists: Arpita Chonkar (@arpipta.kc), Mayuri Srivastava (@mayuri_srivastava) and Radhika Dhanuka (@theradhikadhanuka)
Dress team: Mehboob Shaikh
PR: Hype PR (@hypenq_pr)
Location: Krome Studios, Mumbai
