Karan Johar On Bollywood Gender Politics, Working With Your Critics & Reema Maya’s ‘Student Of The Year’ Series
01.04.2024 - 06:45
/ deadline.com
Indian director-producer Karan Johar wrapped up the conference section of the first Cinevesture International Film Festival with a lively conversation that ranged from working with the right people and Bollywood’s shifting gender politics, to letting slip a few new projects from his Dharma Productions slate.
Johar, who’s having a busy year as a producer with Love Storiyaan on Prime Video and Showtime on Disney+ Hotstar, started the session by talking about how he surrounds himself with people “who know all facets of cinema, not just the mainstream” – even if they’ve been outspoken critics of his work in the past.
He used the example of indie maverick Anurag Kashyap, and producer Somen Mishra, now head of content at Dharma and its OTT division Dharmatic Entertainment, who used to slate him on the popular ‘Passion of Cinema’ blog.
“I think I was their favourite target. But when Rensil D’Silva suggested Anurag was the perfect person to write dialogues for Kurbaan, I said sure let’s call him! How does it matter what he thinks of me? And Anurag eventually walks into my office with a lot of trepidation, wondering if a whole gang was going to assault him. But I gave him a big hug.”
As for Mishra – the outspoken producer once told Johar that he’d slept through his 2001 Bollywood blockbuster, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. “But I wasn’t offended, I laughed. It’s a three hours, 32 minutes film and not an easy watch. You need the patience of the Dalai Lama to see it all the way through.”
Johar added that Mishra deserves all the credit for Love Storiyaan, an anthology directed by six new filmmakers, among which Shazia Iqbal and Vivek Soni are now both making their feature debuts for Dharma. Another of the six, Collin D’Cunha, is