Sadly, no one comes to me with experimental ideas: Karan Johar

With your next film, you launch another debutante director. What is the criterion for you to green-light a project as a producer?
I look for honesty in the intentions of the filmmaker. His ability to head an entire unit and execute his vision is important too. But the most important thing for me is to be able to trust the director. If I feel I can do that, I go ahead with the project. Then of course, it’s essential that the director’s ideas are in sync with what our banner has to offer — I should be able to see him making films for us a over a period of time, and for the industry too.

You assisted Aditya Chopra when he himself was starting out. You, on the other hand, have more than a decade’s body of work as a filmmaker. Is there a difference in the relationship your assistants share with you as compared to what you shared with Aditya Chopra?
With Adi (Chopra), things were different — he was my best friend, like my sibling. It was like working with family. Now, I feel the roles have changed a bit — instead of the big brother Adi was to me, I play more of a parental role to my assistants. These are young people who need the right guidance, and like it is with your children, I mollycoddle them sometimes, put a hand on their heads, and be stern when required. At 38, I am a parent to all those who work with me at Dharma Productions. 

Are the newcomers intimidated by you in any way?
At Dharma, we don’t follow a regimental style of working, so there’s no need to be intimidated. Everyone is open to throw ideas, interact with seniors. We all work on the same level, and I don’t just mean from the structural point of view. It may take them two or three days to get over the initial awe, but after that they settle down and know they can work freely.

Would you entrust a rank outsider with a Dharma film though? If a young filmmaker has a great script he wants Dharma to produce, what should he do?
Well, we have a scripts division that regularly screens story ideas and screenplays sent in by writers and budding filmmakers. Unless I know the person directly, or he/she happens to meet me by chance or has been recommended by someone, a script will go through a screening process. As for giving non-Dharma assistants a chance, Shakun Batra, who makes our next film with Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor, is someone who has assisted other directors like Farhan Akhtar and Abbas Tyrewala on Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, but is making his debut with us. 

Name one film in the last year you wished you had made.
I really liked Udaan. I think it was a brilliantly made film and wish I had produced a gem like that. The sad part is that no one comes to me with experimental ideas like these because they feel that my banner only makes ‘mushy’ films.

Speaking of mush, even as your assistants continue the Dharma tradition of making ‘popcorn’ romantic films, you yourself have ventured into different themes in your last two films. Do you see yourself getting back to making a no-holds-barred mush?
Why not? I would love to do something completely frothy and romantic next, but it’s funny that I am known as this filmmaker who makes mushy films. I have directed only four films after all, and every time a stereotype stuck. When I made Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH), I was known as this bubblegum filmmaker. Then I made Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (K3G) and so I was this guy who made family sagas. After that I broke a family in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehnaa (KANK) and then ventured into post-9/11 prejudice in My Name Is Khan (MNIK), and yet I am supposed to be a mushy filmmaker.

The movies I make reflect the frame of mind I am in and when I made KKHH, for instance, I was in the kind of mind frame to make a love story. With MNIK, the mind frame was different once again. Like right now, I don’t think I’ll be able to see KKHH from start to end. In fact, I tend to cringe when I see my old films and constantly keep thinking of how I would do things differently now. The film of mine I cringe least while watching is MNIK.  

A full page ad claimed MNIK to be the second biggest grosser of all time. Yet some trade analysts insist that the film didn’t do as well as a Karan Johar-Shah Rukh Khan film should have in the Indian market.
But then MNIK is the kind of a film you wouldn’t expect to do blockbuster business everywhere. It has a heavy subject, the songs aren’t lip sync, the hero is autistic — the film was not supposed to be a money spinner in the first place. With K3G, for example, I was sure it had to be this larger-than-life entertainer, with lavish sets, popular music and an eye on box
office returns.

But the impact of MNIK was supposed to be of a different kind. It addresses a global issue, and for me it’s important that a lot of people see and like it more than anything else. Neither me, nor Shah Rukh, claimed that we wanted to make a blockbuster. As far as trade experts who give their verdicts on films go, some of them have vested interests at play. The audience have seen the film and liked it, and that’s all that matters to me.

You think the high price Fox Star paid for the film may have led to the perception that the film may have not done well commercially?
Well, compared to the prices at which other Hindi films got acquired at the same time, MNIK’s costing was highly reasonable. More than anything else, Fox Star is delighted with the film because they look at it as one of their more prestigious projects. Besides, they didn’t just cover the investment but have also made profits. Plus, it continues to play in cinema halls. Even as we speak, the film is being released in Italy and will soon be released in Russia as well.

Wake Up Sid, Kurbaan and MNIK all got embroiled in controversies before release. How do these controversies impact you as a filmmaker?
Well, the Kurbaan issue (of a poster with a backless Kareena on it that irked some people) got resolved soon after, while it was not exactly pleasant to deal with the stress during the release of Wake Up Sid (Raj Thackeray objected to the use of the word ‘Bombay’ in the film) and MNIK.

You put your sweat and tears and toil over a film and then you have to deal with additional strain. About the controversies themselves, enough has already been said and written about and I don’t think I have anything else to add.

On the flipside, the films received immense media coverage at the time of release due to the controversies. It helped create buzz.
I know there are people who feel that the controversies were stage-managed, but these people aren’t aware of what the entire team of MNIK went through a night before the film’s release.

No amount of ‘buzz’ is worth that kind of feeling. In fact, a journalist in a recent article insinuated that what happened during MNIK may have been part of the film’s ‘publicity’. Believe me, we could have done without that kind of publicity.

Every time you’re back from London, people expect you to announce your next film. Since you just returned from there, should we expect a new project on the anvil?
Well, I had gone there on a two-week creative endeavour, hoping to come back with a finalised idea for my next film, but sadly nothing materialised. I thought that I could get into my next film sooner this time than I usually do, with there always being a gap between projects. But I realised I’m still in the MNIK mind space and not quite ready to start something new yet.