Karan Johar Isn't Karan Johar Becoming The Head Cook Who Is Spoiling His Own Soup?

Ali Peter John

It’s certainly not easy to being what Karan Johar is today, at his age, when he is just all of forty-seven….

Karan is the only son of Yash Johar, one of the most popular and loved men in the industry once,  a man who was a part of the industry and who made a name for himself  through his hard work, honesty, humility, sincerity and the will to do anything with a smile, the man who was the production controller of companies like Navketan (Dev Anand) and Ajanta Arts (Sunil Dutt) and the most wanted production executives by all the Hollywood companies which shot their films in India, a man who worked his heart out till he became a leading producer with his own banner, Dharma Productions and making a big name for itself. The father (Yash) unfortunately died of cancer but there was no need to worry about what would happen to Dharma Productions after his death, his son had learnt all the ropes of filmmaking just by watching his father at work, he had the courage and the conviction to carry his father’s banner and take it to a place on very high…

Karan started life in the industry as an assistant to Aditya Chopra when he was making his first film “DDLJ”, he was not only interested in direction but also played a role in the film, Aditya was his hero and he followed all the steps his friend took to make that film which went on to create history, his working with Aditya was like graduating in the field of filmmaking, at the end of “DDLJ” Karan was ready with his own script and had the confidence (his strong  point) to narrate it to Shah Rukh Khan who was willing to do his first film but he had still to convince his father. His father who had established himself as a producer approached Shah Rukh Khan to do his next film and Shah Rukh had only one condition, he would do the film only if it was directed by Karan. The father had to listen to his hero’s advice and it proved to be very beneficial for one and all when Karan’s first film, “Kuch Kuch Hota Hain” turned out to be a very big hit and made Karan a name to reckon with and there were some of the biggest stars who were willing to work with him. It may be however be mentioned that he had to narrate his script to nine major heroines to find Rani Mukherjee to play the role she ultimately played with Kajol as the lead actor.

Karan followed his first big success with other big films like “Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum”, “Kabhi Alwida Na Kehna”, “My Name Is Khan” and “Student Of The Year”. He was not only the director but the main brain behind all that happened at Dharma Productions and he made his father’s banner reach a state which would have made his father a happy man

Karan was interested in growing in different directions and he decided to sit back and gave a number of young and aspiring directors the breaks they were waiting for and he felt they deserved, like his assistant, Karan Malhotra who made “Agneepath”, the film inspired by a film of the same name made by Karan’s father, a film which did not do well at the box-office but was later accepted as a cult film. It was his disappointed father’s dream to make the film again. It was also the dream of the son to make the film but when this young man, Karan Malhotra came up with his idea of making “Agneepath” again and gave Karan Johar a narration of what he had in mind, the man behind Dharma Productions did not take any time to give him the green signal to make  “Agneepath” which was as big a sensation as the original, his last film, “Gippi” was a children’s film directed by another assistant, a woman called Sonam Nair, the success of the film shows how much Karan knows about films and the changing tastes of the people.

Karan is happy and yet doesn't have all the reasons to be happy with the way things are at Dharma Productions. He thinks he knows that there are the right kind of young directors who are with him  all the way and so found time to go back to his first love, direction and made “Student Of The Year” which he considers to be the most challenging film of his career. It was a socially aware film and Karan’s effort to let the world understand the world of the students who are not being groomed in the right direction which is the reason why there is so much of restlessness and even violence on various campuses and among students on the whole paid off….

However, of late, his depending on his lieutenants like Abhishek Varman who gave Dharma Productions one of its biggest blots (kalank), Punit Malhotra who made another reason for Karan to face disappointment was when the sequel to his own hits in the original failed to appeal to students and people of all ages. He has however not lost faith in his young team of directors and has Sahil Chaudhary directing “Good News", Tarun Mansukhani who had last directed “Dostaana"for him and Ayan Mukherjee directing what can be called one of his more ambitious films, “Brahmastra", which leaves only the biggest film of his company, “Takht"which will mark his welcome return as a director. Will these films bring back the glory of Dharma Productions after Karan directed “Student of the year"last and that was quite some time ago....

And Karan is not just a name limited to films. He has this constant urge to grow and know more about all the other fields of life. It is this urge in him that has made him a voice to be heard on different platforms and stages. He has taken part in seminars and symposiums and conferences in which men like the Prime Minister of India and some of the leading minds from different fields have taken part and have been surprised by the knowledge Karan is blessed with. He is one of the country’s best anchor persons, a leading host of TV shows and reality shows and a guide and guardian when it comes to problem facing the country

He should have been content with his place and position as it is today but there is that something within him that pulls him in all directions and he makes sure that he gives something to every place he is invited to

He has a whole lot of friends and admirers, but if there is one person who he adores it is his mother, Mrs. Hiroo Johar who is the co-producer of all the films he makes. Every film made by Dharma Productions is his homage and tribute to his father, a well known fact and if there is anyone he would like to emulate it is the great Yash Chopra and if there is someone he would like to be in the near future, it is Aditya Chopra. These days he is also busy as a parent, busy playing the father of his kids, Yash (named after his father) and Roohi named after his mother.

He has the maximum number of admirers among women both in films and outside films but the most eligible bachelor has promised himself that he would never get married because he is already “married to films” and is already busy as a father and with all the many activities he is involved with. It is a decision that he has now turned into a vow because he believes he will not be able to do justice to so many different “marriages”….

I sometimes wonder what the world would be like if we had many more men like Karan. It would have certainly been a much better world than it is now, but the truth is that not everyone can be a Karan Johar and Karan is going to make conscious and unconscious but constant efforts to add meaning to his existence. And to do that, I feel he should take charge of more films as a director, not that I mean to cast aspersions on his disciples, but he may have certainly heard of the saying,“Too many cooks spoil the broth"and on his birthday, he can take some major decisions in the interest of his father's best gift to him, Dharma Productions for which he has worked very hard, but needs to keep up with the hard work to come up with better films and he knows best how that can be done. He is the “little master"of the world of Hindi films, after all and he has still a very long way to go, beginning this birthday.

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