Karan Johar reflects on rise of South film industry, says 'Hindi cinema falls prey to herd mentality'

Karan Johar on Saturday said Hindi cinema sometimes falls prey to a herd mentality where filmmakers tend to follow popular trends instead of setting new ones.

The 49-year-old filmmaker was speaking at ABP Network's Ideas of India summit where he discussed the rise of the South film industry and the lessons for Bollywood.

"I am putting myself in the same bracket when I say that Hindi cinema, I feel sometimes we fall prey to herd mentality. We shift the focus from the eye to the ball and go to what's happening around us. We tend to do that all the time. I've done it myself," Johar said while interacting with film critic Mayank Shekhar. The filmmaker gave the example of how there is an influx of stories which are either biopics, cinematic spectacles or small-town stories.

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"I've done the same, I have followed the same. I have not created many paths. I have followed trends. That is what happens in Hindi cinema. We sometimes lose the courage of our convictions and so filmmakers also get carried away with this wavering energy," he added.

Johar further pointed out how the South film industry has been following the same path of filmmaking for years.

"They're not looking at what we are doing or what Hollywood is doing. They're doing their thing. Their syntax has remained the same, they have up their technology and we have a lot to catch up with."

"But I feel sometimes as we lose the courage of our convictions, there are certain filmmakers who haven't, like Sanjay Leela Bhansali does what he wants to do, Rohit Shetty too does what he wants to do, he is not listening to intellectuals, critics or Instagram. He's doing his thing."

He was particularly impressed by the box office collection of the recently released pan-India movie 'RRR', helmed by SS Rajamouli, whom he referred to as the "biggest Indian filmmaker".

Citing the craze behind Allu Arjun-starrer 'Pushpa' and its massive success across the country, especially in the Hindi-speaking belt, Johar said the true crossover can be witnessed from the fact that people today are listening and dancing to the film's Telugu songs.

Johar believes the key reason behind the enthusiasm for South films is due to the digital explosion.

"The Hindi film industry is being inspired on a weekly basis by the film industry from the South, by what is happening in Hollywood and what is happening digitally. Everyone is kind of coming on together. So, we got to watch what we do at every step."

The 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' director also shared that the South film industry has held on to their movie stardom because of their content and the way they position their movies.

"Telugu film industry has made certain kinds of films which are all about its inherent heroism, there are few, wonderful, female actors that have done solo lead films. But we in Hindi cinema have got widely eclectic in terms of our storytelling choices." "We haven't held on. The way we position Amitabh Bachchan in the 70s, which actually began the entire concept of heroism. We changed our syntax later, whereas Telugu cinema, specifically held on to it, their heroism was kept intact."

Speaking of stardom and superstars, Johar believes in Hindi cinema particularly, it is the age of an actor and that we are no longer living in the age of superstar.

Giving examples of superstars such as Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn, Hrithik Roshan, Johar said they all are massive movie stars as they have a legacy behind them, which can't be wiped out.

"But today we talk about the actors of this generation, it's going to go into a zone of an actor, the age of an actor. It's no longer going to be the age of superstar or star. I don't think it's possible after creating that euphoria that the names I just mentioned have had," he added.

Meanwhile, when asked how does he see the vilification of Bollywood with hashtags like hateBollywood, ban Bollywood and some even pointed toward him, on social media, Johar said he was initially affected by it but later chose to look at the love and support from a large section of people.

"Emotionally speaking it was a very difficult time for me and my family two years ago," Johar said, adding, "It was not easy because we brought the surface things that should not have been brought to the surface." "But we also reacted to that surface. We should have known that we are actually talking about a very tiny percentage of people, who are very actively loud on social media."

The producer said he used to take certain things to his heart when they would pop up on his timeline.

"But we don't see the love that exists in large numbers, larger than the negativity, larger than the trolling, larger than anything that you face in terms of criticism. We chose to see the bad. We react to the bad, we bring ourselves down," he said.

"I've got to analyze it within and I said to myself, why am I sad about faceless, nameless people thinking about me. I shouldn't care about them. I should actually be grateful for the love that I get which is in larger numbers. That's what I've chosen to do," he added.