Money matters: ‘I need to have a selling face’

Director Karan Johar speaks about financial challenges of film-making, need for fresh talent.

MUMBAI: Film-maker Karan Johar recently termed the limited number of stars in the film industry as a crisis and hopes that the country starts appreciating new talent.

Present at the launch of a digital portal, Johar spoke about the challenges directors face while selecting a cast from the very few options that are available. “It is a big problem. 100 movies to make and there are only about six of them (actors) that can sell your movie,” he said. “The moment you choose someone else, they say ‘you won’t get the budget, the music won’t sell, overseas won’t sell, satellite won’t sell, digital won’t sell, nothing sells then’ and things like that.”

He further added that the Indian film industry is descending into a state of crisis. “It is very limiting, we have very few movie stars and I hope the country starts loving more and more stars very soon. It gives them longevity as movie stars, so that we can actually have the choice. The way that we used to love our movie stars up to the 1980s, that madness and insanity is definitely depleting with time.”

Johar also looked back to when he started filming the highly acclaimed Student of the Year with no known stars onboard. “When I was making Student of the Year, I used to feel very sad as there was no star on that set, ever. We have to launch faces, make films with big budgets and sell them. We are producers at the end of the day. I’m not a corporate studio, I’m not funded internationally and I don’t have a pool of wealth lying around to take chances with. I need a selling face, then work around it.”

The Koffee with Karan host has worked with some of the biggest superstars of the country right from the beginning of his career, including Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kajol, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor and Jaya Bachchan amongst others. He has also introduced a few new faces to the industry, such as Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotr,a who have since made a place for themselves within Bollywood.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2016.

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