Karan Johar: I am the reason why Kalank failed
It has been a year since the period drama Kalank released and tanked at the box office. But it seems that filmmaker Karan Johar is still not over the failure of his much-touted production. As he readies to direct his next big film, Takht — yet another period drama — Karan assures that he “won’t repeat the mistakes” he made in the past.
Readily taking all the onus of Kalank’s failure, the filmmaker says, “Whenever a film fails, you can always say that a group makes it, so everyone is equally responsible. But, being the most senior member of that group in terms of the creative crew guiding that ship, if it failed, I’d take complete responsibility as it was my failure more than anyone else’s.”
Directed by Abhishek Varman, Kalank starred popular actors Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Varun Dhawan, and Alia Bhatt, among others. Karan asserts that besides reflecting upon one’s failure, it’s important to acknowledge the failure (in front of the public), and “more important to acknowledge why we failed”.
Given that Kalank was closest to Karan’s heart as it was his father, late Yash Johar’s dream project, he admits that he got a little carried away with its execution. “I’m the reason Kalank failed because I took the film into directions it should not have gone to. I could have guided it into the right zone; made it in a better way and encouraged the director to do well on his own,” says Karan adding that he had full faith in Abhishek.
“He’s an exceptionally talented filmmaker who has worked very hard to achieve the visuals and storytelling of Kalank, but it failed. I really failed the director and I told him that it’s not his failure as much as it’s mine and I hope we can go beyond this with the next film we do together. I hope we can erase the failure,” says the filmmaker who directed a horror anthology, Ghost Stories, for an OTT platform, earlier this year.
However, not regretting even for once that he made Kalank, Karan insists that come what may, he would “never erase” the memories of the film. “A lot of love and passion went into the making of that film and one can’t dilute that. There are people who will respect certain parts of that film with time,” says Karan sounding hopeful.
Besides Kalank, quite a few big budget films haven’t done well at the box office over the last couple of years, case in point being Tubelight, Zero and Thugs of Hindostan (all 2018). Karan feels it’s just a matter of time and things won’t remain this way, always. “Right now, when a massive mammoth budget film fails, there’s so much emphasis on the money lost and the industry makes a big deal about it. Also, it takes away from the core passion that went into the storytelling. So, I hope we all can redeem ourselves, soon.”
I failed the director [Abhishek Varman] and I told him that it’s not his failure as much as it’s mine and I hope we can go beyond this with the next film we do. KARAN JOHAR,
FILMMAKER