Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar has proudly declared himself the bearer of nepotism. Having launched star-kids, through his movies, his bluntness towards the reality of Bollywood is often lauded by many. The producer recently attended a round-table discussion with the filmmakers and actors of other movie industries, where he opened up about where Bollywood went wrong. He shared that Hindi movies that were lauded in the 70s have slowly lost their conviction.
The Dharma Productions’ head honcho shared his thoughts on the remake trend in Bollywood on a Mega Roundtable 2022 hosted by Galatta Plus. He was joined by Varun Dhawan, Nipun Dharmadhikari, Srinidhi Shetty, Pooja Hegde, Dulquer Salmaan, Anurag Kashyap and many more. ALSO READ: Kajol Takes A DIG At Karan Johar’s Obsession With Star Kids, Amused Netizens Say, ‘That Was Personal’- Watch Video
He revealed that being a mainstream industry, Bollywood lacks one strong quality as the fraternity is often seen dabbling in multiple genres. He said, “I think the core issue is that we come from a mainstream industry in Hindi cinema, and that includes myself, which does not have one very strong quality that every other cinema on this panel has. That is conviction. We kind of always go with the flow.”
Taking about the different era’s of Bollywood he recalled how in 70s, Bollywood gave birth to an angry young man persona, but they let it go. He went on to share how 80s was dedicated to remakes, 90s was dedicated to romance and 2010’s was dedicated to making commercial and masala entertainers. ALSO READ: Anu Aggarwal Recalls Karan Johar’s Father Yash Johar Came To Meet Her After Her Accident; Says, ‘I Was Told Later, But I Couldn’t Recognise People’
The 50-year-old director-producer said, “We had such an original voice in Salim-Javed in the 70s. We created a certain character and the concept of that angsty, angry hero was derived in other cinemas. Then, in the 80s, suddenly something happened and there came a host of remakes. That’s where the conviction loss started. We started remaking every film popular in Tamil and Telugu. In the 90s, there was one love story that stormed the nation--Hum Aapke Hain Koun. Everyone, including myself, decided to jump on that bandwagon of love, and Shah Rukh Khan was created. Then Lagaan was nominated for an Oscar in 2001 and everybody started making those kinds of films. In 2010, Dabangg did well and we again started those commercial films.”
He concluded his point by stating that as an entertainment industry, Bollywood lacks spine and conviction. He said that they need to learn how to cherish their art like all the other industries. “That’s the problem. We actually lack and I say this more for myself than anyone else--we lack the spine and conviction. That’s what we need to get from all the other industries,” he said.
On the work front, Karan Johar will be making his comeback as a director with Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt starrer Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani. The movie also stars Jaya Bachchan, Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi in pivotal roles and will release on April 28, 2023.
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