Panaji: Karan Johar calls himself a big fan of fellow filmmaker Raju Hirani's films but that does not stop him from getting envious when ‘3 Idiots' director does well at the box office.
Johar, 42, said just like Hirani he hopes to come up with a brilliant idea of a socially-relevant movie. “I have been pitted almost against everybody and I have always been asked this question ‘how do I feel?'. I feel sad and I feel unhappy and want to break my furniture. You feel envy. I don't feel jealous. I feel envious. I am envious of Raj Kumar Hirani. I am not jealous of him.
“I love the fact that he is country's biggest filmmaker and he has been making good films time after time. He is making socially-relevant blockbusters. I hope I come up with a brilliant idea of a movie with a social relevance,” Karan said during the session ‘An afternoon film bazaar with Rajiv Masand'.
The director-producer said his films, about rich people and their problems, have made a certain image about him and he hardly gets any other subject on his table.
“There is no set rule and regulation for filmmakers. I am quite happy in my space. Everytime, I open my script it says wide shot of Manhattan or winter in England and everything about rich people and their problems. I try very hard to communicate that I want to produce all kind of content, be it horror, superhero and thriller but they generally don't come to my table,” he said.
Karan said his last film, a fluffy college drama, titled ‘Student of the Year', was just a ‘holiday film' for him after ‘My Name is Khan' and ‘We are Family'. “After ‘My Name is Khan' and ‘We are Family', I felt that I had lost connect with youth. It was a holiday film for me. It was my interpretation of a Disney movie, it had no story basically. But I don't apologies for it because I gave three potential stars (Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra) through this film,” he added.
The ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' director recalled how his three young actors taught him the terminologies of today's generation.
“I feel myself to be very old school. They taught me so much. Varun and Alia introduced me to new genre of music. They made me hear EDM (Electronic Dance Music). They also made me familiar of the term FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). Many thought that I am going through mid-life crisis after this film,” he added.
Karan is glad that his lead actors in the ‘Student of the Year' are doing good after their debut film.
Karan, however, has no plans to produce regional movies because he doesn't understand the ‘ethos' of vernacular movies.
The producer, who is the owner of Dharma Productions, said his production company is not a public listed studio. “I am not a public listed studio. I don't want to do anything which I don't understand. I understand the ethos of Hindi cinema. I know what I can do with it, platform it and position it. So I don't want to produce an English language film,” he said.
Many of his Bollywood colleagues including Riteish Deshmukh (check spelling), Ajay Devgn, Salman Khan have put their weight behind the regional cinema. “I would not want to produce a Marathi, Bengali, Tamil and Telugu film because I don't have to show a balance-sheet every quarter. What I don't understand I can't do. I don't understand the ethos of Marathi cinema so how can I put my money and expect a return. I don't know the demand of the audience,” he said.
The director said he knows a lot about Punjabi film industry but would not like to turn producer. “I am a Punjabi and it doesn't mean I know the ethos of Punjabi cinema. I know that their cinema is doing phenomenally good. I know they have produced their largest hit in an animation film. Who knew that a film like ‘Char Sahibjaade' will become the biggest Punjabi success beating ‘Jat and Juliet'.
“I am aware and I know which film is doing what but I would not understand what to do. I am not in the movies to earn money. I am here to make films which I understand,” he said.
