‘I read my criticism before the praise’

Stressing that from an early stage, he has believed in closely reading his criticism from diverse quarters without assuming that it is a conspiracy theory, producer-director Karan Johar said, “To evolve, it’s paramount that I am around people who are closer to the ground and draw from those who have talent.”

In conversation with film critic Namrata Joshi during the session titled ‘Between Larger-than-Life Romance and Grassroots Love Storiyaan: The Dharma of Entertainment’ at the Cinevesture International Film Festival (CIFF) in Chandigarh, the star director revealed that ‘Kill’ will be released in July. Also, there is a digital version of ‘Student of the Year’ that Reema Sengupta is directing and new work for an OTT platform.

“I’d like to direct five films this decade. I sleep barely four to five hours a day and have complete faith in my team, making it a point not to interfere in their creative space.”

Admitting that he had fumbled early in his career, Johar asserted that his production house has invested in diverse content, debut filmmakers, actors without any experience and writers who floored him with their scripts.

When ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ was released and went to be a huge hit, there were four other releases: ‘Lagaan’, ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, ‘Chandni Bar’ and ‘Gadar’. “Well, that made me question: ‘Did I make a path-breaking film?’ I was assaulted by cinematic missiles.”

He stressed that taking over ‘Dharma Productions’ was the toughest phase of his life, considering he had no clue how to run it and even thought about shutting it down.

‘I’d like to direct five films this decade. I sleep barely four to five hours a day and have complete faith in my team,’ he says