I’ve known Karan Johar almost forever. There was a time when he was on my must-visit list every time I visited Mumbai. One evening long ago I was sitting with Priyanka Chopra at her home and Karan rang evidently to ask when I would be reaching his place. I hesitated from answering the phone. I told Priyanka that I’d have to skip my meeting with Karan as I was exhausted.
Priyanka looked straight at me with a stern look and said, “You CANNOT do that to Karan Johar.” Copy that.
Karan Johar is a film industry within the film industry. Aspiring actors, directors and technicians from out of town head to his office the minute they arrive in Mumbai in the hope that Karan Johar would make their career. “It’s not a magic wand, my dear, that I can wave and voila, a star is born! It doesn’t work that way. It’s a lot of hard work and even more luck,” he once told me.
But look at the stars who have emerged in recent years from Dharma Productions:
Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor…the number of directors and technicians Karan has given to the industry could fill up Kareena Kapoor Khan’s shoes closet.
I bring up the gorgeous Kareena because she is Karan’s favourite. Alia Bhatt would probably be heartbroken to hear that, and Kajol, Karan’s other hot favourite, wouldn’t care less. But Kareena it is. I know there was a point when the two had a fight over the remuneration for a film that Karan offered her. For the record, it was Kal Ho Naa Ho and Karan thought Kareena being a friend would jump at it, especially since his father had recently passed away.
It wasn’t so much the staggering amount that hit Karan. It was the sheer ill-timing of the remunerative demand, just when he needed his friends to support him. Karan vented his ire, swore Kareena and he (and by extension her sister Karisma as well) would never speak again. I would laugh at his hurt act knowing they would be kissing and hugging in no time.
The same happened with Kajol when they had a fall-out. Knowing that he should never say never again, Karan “swore” on “anything that’s dear” to him that Kajol is “history”. Well, it was not Kajol, it was their short-lived cold war that’s history.
Once during a casual chat recently I asked Karan if all these “best friends” of his would-be around when he is no longer the movie mogul. Karan is sure that they would be his friends “even if I could no longer afford Gucci jackets”.
Karan lives in a bubble. May that bubble never burst, my friend. We’ve had our ups and downs. But there is a bonding between us that stays even during times when his marketing team warn him that I am “dangerous”. Karan has seen worst danger. There was time when his father the dear Yash Johar lost all his money to film production. Karan has seen all the fair-weather friends disappear.
He knows the way the industry works. But he CHOOSES to live in that bubble. He now has his lovely twins Roohi and Yash in that bubble with him. May they remain in there safely ensconced, away from all danger. It’s all about loving your family. Karan knows it.
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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