Director-producer Karan Johar may have left a mark on the popular culture but believes he is yet to make a notable contribution to the Indian cinema. The 45-year-old filmmaker wishes to direct movies like Lagaan and Lage Raho Munna Bhai. “I may have contributed to the pop culture but I don’t think I have contributed to the brilliance of cinema as yet. I’m yet to make my Lagaan or a Rang De Basanti or a Lage Raho... which I believe are defining iconic films,” Johar said at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) 2017.
The Ae Dil Hai Mushkil director hosted a Masterclass on ‘How to direct a big Bollywood dream’ at the ongoing festival yesterday. Citing the example of Baahubali, he said, “We need to reinvent... Dependence on stars has to reduce. Content has to take over.”
The filmmaker said he believed he should have made more movies and that his 19-year-long career has been a terrible record. “I think I should have made many more movies. You start believing that you are so important that you can’t fail. Nobody is that important. Cinema is bigger than all of us. Last year, I promised myself to lessen the gap but I’m still crackling with the idea of what to make because it’s the same fear of failure, overestimation about the self that keeps popping up, which I have to fight out.”
Commenting on his work as a director, Johar said he has never been given his due credit as he is judged for being frequently seen on the small screen. “I’m a talk show host and then I’m dancing on reality shows which is embarrassing for my family too... So, Raju Hirani, Imtiaz Ali, Zoya Akhtar or Anurag Kashyap will be taken more seriously because they are serious filmmakers where as I’m dancing on Jhalak Dikhla Jaa. But I’m ok with that as long as I make that one feature film that I believe I have yet to make, which will supersede any perception or any observation on me and what I represent,” he said.
Johar praised actor Aamir Khan, calling him as “the most intelligent cinematic mind” in the industry, especially after giving a blockbuster like Dangal. The director said he wants to work with the actor but nothing concrete has come their way. “I don’t want to be the one who gave him the bad film... I’m over-nervous.”
Johar’s next film will be dedicated to his five-month-old twins, Yash and Roohi. “My cinema has always been an extension of my state of mind... Whether it was My Name Is Khan or Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, it has always been resonant with my state of mind,” he said.
“It’s not that I will make parental film but there would be layers in my next film that would actually explicitly portray my humongous level of excitement for having Yash and Roohi.”
Johar said his new film venture, which features Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor, will start shooting in October or November this year. He also talked about writer-lyricist Prasoon Joshi’s appointment as the chairman of Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) and said that the move would bring the much needed change of certifying films rather than censoring them.
Johar was given the Leadership in Cinema Award at the fest and is likely to host the IFFM Awards night next year.
(With inputs from PTI)
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