Filmmaker and producer Karan Johar, who turned 50 this year, has criticised the Hindi film industry for continuously churning out remakes and following the trends from other film industries. The Dharma Productions head added that Bollywood lacks the spine and conviction to make original content.
The Ae Dil Hai Mushkil director shared his thoughts in a round table discussion hosted by the YouTube channel Galatta Plus. Karan said, "I think the core issue is that we come from a mainstream industry in Hindi cinema, and that includes myself, which does not have one very strong quality that every other cinema on this panel has. That is conviction. We kind of always go with the flow. We had such an original voice in Salim-Javed in the 70s. We created a certain character and the concept of that angsty, angry hero was derived in other cinemas."
"Then, in the 80s, suddenly something happened and there came a host of remakes. That’s where the conviction loss started. We started remaking every film popular in Tamil and Telugu. In the 90s, there was one love story that stormed the nation--Hum Aapke Hain Koun. Everyone, including myself, decided to jump on that bandwagon of love, and Shah Rukh Khan was created", he added.
Johar further stated, "Then Lagaan was nominated for an Oscar in 2001 and everybody started making those kinds of films. In 2010, Dabangg did well and we again started those commercial films. That’s the problem. We actually lack and I say this more for myself than anyone else--we lack the spine and conviction. That’s what we need to get from all the other industries."
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Meanwhile, on the work front, Karan's next film is set to release after seven years in 2023. Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, the romantic family entertainer, features Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi, and Jaya Bachchan as the main cast. Earlier scheduled to release on February 10, the film will now arrive in theatres on April 28.
