Karan Johar finally sat down for a cuppa joe with his own people from the film fraternity – the directors!
And not just any fluffy directors but some of the most respected ones who have delivered their own superhits but have not compromised on their own ethics on the way.
The one episode which went beyond just the frivolous gossip and one worth remembering this season was with Kabir Khan, Imtiaz Ali and Zoya Akhtar.
Director Catharsis
Being a little director tea koffee party, there was a lot Karan could get off his chest with his own brood - of how actors are too lazy to read their own scripts and instead want proper narrations from directors.
He said that its one thing to narrate a script but it’s a whole production a director needs to put up for the actor - with songs and everything!
Karan confessed that he’s dramatic with his narrations. He said he becomes the actor, the actress and even sings the songs.
Clearly, if you sit through a Johar narration, you don’t need to see the final film!
Pre-Friday or Post-Friday
Being the “quintessential outsider” into Bollywood and a documentary film maker, Kabir Khan had more than a lot to share about his experience with actors and producers.
Given his first film, Kabul Express, being based on a documentary subject, it took him a year to get to the producer to finance his project!
The terms thrown around were pre-Friday and post-Friday films.
And he said that to make a film pre-Friday (one that would recover its costs before the release), Kabir had to get Arjun Rampal! But he confessed that he still doesn’t have Rampal’s number even now!
Censor Board
This is what finally had to be said!
Zoya’s Survival Tips
Being a director who has faced ample rejection from big stars when she went to them to ask them to star in films, Zoya has been the one director people have regretted not working with.
How did she manage to not lose hope when faced with such defeat?
Zoya stayed cocky and thick skinned and doesn’t let it get to her.
I said, I’m going to make movies and you’re going to want to work in them!
Imtiaz’s Sloppy Film Viewing
Imtiaz Ali confessed to watching only three films in 2016. In his defence, he was on set with Shah Rukh and Anushka all of last year shooting.
But what were the films he did see in 2016?
Ali also confessed that his process of disinvesting from his films happens after he submerges himself so much in a film that there’s no more left to give to it.
“I like to give my all to my film, have it done and dusted with so that I can move onto my next project and have people talk about that instead.”
Are Sisters the Same as Nuns?!
Zoya also threw in a little tidbit about how when she approached some lead actors for casting in her film, they shrugged off the role of a sister (in Dil Dhadakne Do), presuming that a sister’s role is not the main lead.
They went on to ask her the most diva-esque questions like:
They asked me, “Will I look like a sister? Will I be dressed like a sister?” Like, what does that mean? Do they want to look like nuns?!
Live Tweets and Piracy
What did Zoya Akhtar have to say about everyone turning into a critic in a movie theatre and live-tweeting the films as they progress?
It’s piracy what they’re doing!
Well, that’s some food for thought now isn’t it?
Directors on Critics
Karan confessed to reading all reviews, Zoya confessed to reading some and Imtiaz said he read none. Kabir doesn’t seek reviews out but he doesn’t ignore them either.
The one critic they all agreed to read? Baradwaj Rangan from The Hindu.
Zoya said that he was the one critic who was picked up little things from the movies like dialogues seeming to be literal translations from English. She said that she wrote her own dialogues in English and made her father or brother translate them literally into Hindi.
Karan called Rangan the best film critic in the country.
Imtiaz said critics give the story away, in their hurry to finish a certain number of films.
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