Karan Johar Reveals What's Exactly Wrong With The Film Industry Right Now

The Indian film industry is in a state of flux right now, where there are a handful of stars, say the Khans who are running the box-office. Yes, there's been a tremendous paradigm shift with the coming of small budget films like Piku and Pink making it big, soaring impetus of word of mouth popularity and more empowerment to women centric films. But, that's not enough! We're seeing big foreign collaborations destablising and studios losing money on the biggest bets of the season. 

Recently, Karan Johar made a lot of sense when he spoke at length about the changing paradigms of film industry and what needs to be done, and undone. 

Check out his top quotes from a renowned film festival held by a leading daily. 

What's going wrong with the movies?

"Yash Chopra once told me, films don’t fail, budgets do. There was virtue and reality in what he said. That if you budget a film and you make sure that you know... if you have a film that doesn’t get into certain prices in certain territories, you must not charge it. "

source lightscamerabollywood

What has changed?

"When you partner with a studio to make sure that they are not a funding bank for you that I just want to steam roll you and you don’t do anything for me back in return. Certain studios are really strategizing their way because the money you get out of the pure Hindi film is not what you’re imagining it to be…because you are empowered by certain verticals like satellite. They buy certain kinds of films which work on Indian television sometimes does not necessarily equals box office success. Sometimes a film that may have failed at the box office rates tremendously on television and vice versa."

source youtube

Karan gave the example of how Student Of The Year earned only 70 Cr at the B.O and got a TV rating of 4, whereas Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani grossed 180 Cr but got a TV rating of only 3.2. 

So there’s no logic?

"New moralities, new rules, new infrastructure! It’s time for analysis, it’s time for us to take a step back and see that when we make movies ….there’s never a failure there’s always a lesson. It’s all about cost efficiency, budget control and monitoring your level of delusion. There’s no way when I can start believing that all products of mine are supreme products and open to thunderous houses."

About celebs who make it to the top lists

"Very few actors have made wealth as a result of the amount of movies they’ve done and they have another avenues or sources of income. So when they’re on the Forbe’s list it’s not just the wealth they have amassed within the movie structure, it’ sout of it as well. The stardom is much larger than the money in your bank. It’s like you know naam bada darshan chhota." 

The very intelligent men and women in the business have actually invested well, have actually gone beyond the periphery of their fraternity and that’s why they come into those lists.The wealth is not just cinema. It’s brand plus what they do with it. 

The gems of 2016 so far

"The tiny powerful films…Pink, the Neerja, the Kapoor and sons Udta Punjab, those will be the gems of the year."

If the crisis continues?

"It will result in the closure of many studios many films and many careers..."

source indiatoday

Who's the superstar of Bollywood?

"The biggest superstar in this country according to me is.. the national holiday. 2017 -18 you still have the big festivals blocked by the big boys! It’s almost like they’re obstacles for these younger kids." He also thinks that Ranveer Singh or Ranbir Kapoor will never be able to see the stardom like the Khans or Bachchan because the latter made their fan base via single screens, over decades and earned the love to an extent that the parents passed on their favourites to their kids. The stars of yesterday had humungous numbers which the current generation has, but the intensity is not the same. 

Does he know when his film is going to bomb?

"We know when a film is wrong! I’m always very calm on the morning of a flop film because I know." 

Is it right to compare Bollywood with world cinema?

"The way we make people cry no one can do it! We are a unique country because we stop our narrative and start it again."

He gave an instance where he showed K3G in Germany and people came out of the hall crying and clapping saying what a dark film! They actually didn't realise that Indian films have intervals and that the two brothers would meet in the second half. They don't know the concept of intervals and worried about their dinners. K Jo very rightly told them, you don't think about dinner when you watch a 3 hour long movie in India. Do we?