Karan Johar has given the film industry true talent: Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan, Ishaan Khatter, Janhvi Kapoor, and Siddharth Shukla (introduced to cinema in Johar’s Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania).
The trick of being Karan Johar is to not take yourself too seriously. This bottle-label comes with a warning: others may choose to take your self-rule to not take yourself seriously ,too seriously .And you end up shortchanged for your achievements because the cynics think Karan Johar is synonymous with good times.Where is the wine and cheese?
But hang on. Look at the vast array of extraordinary talent Karan Johar has given to the film industry. He scores higher than the other renowned Christopher Columbuses of Bollywood, excluding Shyam Benegal. Karan is flattered and amused to be compared with Benegal. He feels it’s like comparing Khadi with Gucci (his favourite brand).
But setting aside his sartorial dazzle , flamboyant lifestyle and glamorous friends, Karan has given the film industry true talent: Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan, Ishaan Khatter, Janhvi Kapoor, and Siddharth Shukla (introduced to cinema in Johar’s Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania).
Among directors the ones that have been Karan Johar’s discoveries are Nikkhil Advani, Puneet Malhotra, Ayan Mukerji, Rensil D’Silva, Soham Shah, Sonam Nair, Vinil Mathew and Shashank Khaitan. Significantly, almost all these directors have chosen to continue working with Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, and those who have broken away like Karan Malhotra and Soham Shah have delivered duds after their departure from Dharma.
Karan Johar binds none of the talents in a contract. Unlike his best friend Aditya Chopra whose discoveries must do their first three films with his banner, Karan Johar gives his discoveries the freedom to fly the coop whenever they want.
Vijay Deverakonda too would be free to sign any Hindi film he wants after his Karan Johar produced Liger is released. Liger director Puri Jagannadh is already on the lookout for other producers in Hindi. But Vijay isn’t going anywhere. His second film too will be for Karan, and Karan only.
Karan nurtures talent. He doesn’t try to own it. When Alia Bhatt was desirous of working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Karan didn’t object although he doesn’t really see eye-to-eye with Bhansali. Instead, Karan facilitated the initial meetings between his favourite godchild Alia and Bhansali.
Incidentally, he signs all his protégées for their full market price after they become stars.
Karan’s current project is Vijay Deverakonda. Karan firmly believes Vijay has the potential to be the Next Big Thing after Alia Bhatt. A lot of speculative elements in the film industry believe Karan has brought Vijay D from the South to create a rival star to Kartik Aaryan in Bollywood.
This is just not true. In fact, here is a thought to leave readers with. Karan’s patch-up with Kartik is around the corner. Watch this space.
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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