Karan Johar: Mom was horrified!

He featured in bit parts in several films, but Karan Johar makes his full-fledged acting debut as Bombay Velvet villain Kaizad Khambatta, thanks to some convincing by Anurag Kashyap. While the two filmmakers haven't exactly been friends, they sorted their issues out when they worked together in Bombay Talkies. Now, after BV, the duo can't stop talking about each other. With the film up for release, Karan muses about his feature-length debut and his mother's reaction to it, among other things.
Excerpts from a conversation...

Who or what convinced you to become an actor at 42?
Oh god! Anurag Kashyap, if he is a who or what, I don't know. He came to my office and said he wanted to narrate Bombay Velvet to me and I was like why does he want my feedback? We are from completely two opposite schools of cinema and maybe that's why he wanted my feedback. We became friends, having worked on Bombay Talkies by then. We've co-produced films together, have a great synergy and equation anyway. When he narrated the film, I loved the screenplay and loved the world it created. I was actually blown away by his film and I was excitedly giving him my opinion when he took a pause and asked will you play Khambatta? I was like, 'Huh? What do you mean?' He was like, 'Will you act?' and I said, 'Have you gone mad?' He said it would be great, that I must do it. He kept talking about it and that he saw me as Khambatta. At that moment too many thoughts were crossing my mind. I was like, 'I have done everything. What's the worst that can happen? I will be a terrible actor and I will never get another film? But that's not what really pays my bills'. So I was like, 'Okay, fine!' I took it up.

Did you consult someone about the role?
No. Because I knew people would have a strange feeling about me making my debut like this.

Ever think you'd make your debut with an Anurag Kashyap film? Ever see yourself making the kind of movies he does?
Never. Who would think that? No. Me doing an Anurag Kashyap film is like me doing... I don't know what! There is no comparison. It was like the weirdest thing in the world. I love all kinds of films but I am incapable of making films like Dev.D or Gangs Of Wasseypur. I don't claim to be versatile. I am far from it. I appreciate Anurag's talent but we are from two completely different schools of cinema, so me being on his set was weird on a lot of levels. When I was on the set, I was never a teacher, I was always a learner learning everyday. People ask me if I ever switched on my director's hat but the truth is, I couldn't because there was no way I could understand what was going on.

What did your mother have to say?
She was horrified. She has no problems with me acting, but she was like how could Anurag see me as the villain, was he mad? She met him and asked him if he had gone completely mad to cast me as a villain. Which part of me looked like I could play an antagonist? But he was really convinced. I have been riding off his conviction because there was no way I would have seen myself as that. And I don't think anyone in the country could have seen me play this role because he saw me in a certain way that I didn't see myself.

And now what does your mother have to say? Has she seen the film?
Yes, she has. Yeah, she liked it and she used the words 'pleasantly surprised'. Her exact words.

Like seeing yourself on screen now? Are you comfortable about it?
No, I hate it. I never go to the monitor after a take. You will never see me looking at the screen, even after a photo-shoot, I will never go and check. I don't even like to watch my own films. I haven't seen my own films many times, barring the few times that I have had to watch it.

Could you visualise Ranbir in this tough role?
Ranbir can play anything. He is possibly one of the most brilliant actors this generation has seen. He can do anything. There is no stopping his ability because he is just gifted. There is nothing that even he can do about it.