DIRECTOR'S TOUCH: KARAN JOHAR

By Fuad Omar.

Karan Johar is probably the hottest director around right now. The young man responsible for two of Indian cinema's biggest hits is recognised wherever he goes, is written about all the time and is consistently being tracked by someone somewhere for some reason. Whether he's tugging at heart strings and stirring nostalgia or showing the world what Indian-ness is all about, he's certainly made his mark in no time. Only two films old, an established costume co-ordinator, scriptwriter and director, Karan has left few stones of the art of cinema unturned. His last film was a phenomenal success internationally and nationally. Having just picked up a few awards at the Filmfares and IIFA, he's all set to make an appearance at Selfridges this May as part of their Bollywood Fever season. Making Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and through its release he learnt more than he could ever imagine. A journey with Karan Johar that spans the past few years and leads up to the much awaited DVD release of the ultimate feel good family movie, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

What was it like when you took your first shot?
"I remember being very scared when we took the first shot, we were shooting Le Jaa Le Jaa and it was an easy shot involving Hrithik and Kareena then slowly moving onto Shah Rukh. We started shooting on 16th October and then on the 20th the Bachchans were coming. Having them all on the set for that song was the day I fainted! I was really scared, but after the first day I realised the tremendous amount of support that I had and the vibe between everyone and how I would have a great time shooting the film. After the first schedule I realised everybody was going to get on superbly with each other and that made a lot of difference. The feel good vibe with each other reflected in the film. After I saw the song after it was complete I really felt it was good and represented the mood of the film."

Do you feel a sense of cinematic growth since Kuch Kuch Hota Hai?

"With this film I felt an immense amount of growth as a director since Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, in almost every sense. I felt a sense of technical maturity and confidence with this film, whereas there was a little shakiness with KKHH which was translated as innocence. The rawness and innocence wasn't a part of K3G's directorial aspect and there was definitely a higher sense of maturity. I felt I grew along with the film and now feel I know my job. I know I'm secure and this is the place for me. People won't think of me as a flash in a pan because I've proved myself with this film and I like this place a lot and this is where I'm going to stay!"

2001 has been a fabulous year for Indian cinema, how do you look back on the year as one for cinema and one which has taught you a lot with regards to your film?
"As far as cinema in 2001 is concerned it's been a great year. There were talks of the industry going through a slump, but it's a case of reflection of the product. I feel good films equal good box office revenue and bad films flop. We saw successes with Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai and Gadar early in the year, and Lagaan opened new doors where cinema is concerned. I remember calling Aamir and telling him "All of us attempt to make films, you just made a classic." Dil Chahta Hai was very interesting with a different mood and atmosphere working well with youngsters in the metropolitan cities. I'm also glad my film has contributed to the dying coppers of the industry in the last four months and also generating great box office revenues here and abroad. I'm glad it achieved all it set out to do and I learnt a lot from the film's release. I learnt there are people who love me and there are people who dislike me, which is something I never would have realised. I always thought I was this blue eyed loved boy after KKHH but you realise that people change their attitudes towards you when you achieve a certain level of success. You don't change but the people around you do. It's been a process of learning, contributing and attributing and it's been a great year in that sense."

Sections of the media were intent on taking away from your success and bringing you down. Your film, despite creating box office history, wasn't allowed to bask in glory for too long because the media was too busy finding faults in it. What do you feel about the media mud-slinging that went on?
"The more successful you get the more they want to bring you down. It's an occupational hazard. There's so many moments of joy I've experienced in the past two-three years making my movies, so the few moments of gham cannot bring me down. I've achieved two very big commercial successes, my first film because it was from a newcomer got the acclaim and the second people tried to bring it down, but the bottom line is you cannot fight box office figures. Because if you notice Fuad, today all those people are quiet because they don't know what to say. Now they'll go hype some other film and deal with that. I've tried to take all good and bad things in my stride because life is exactly like the title of my film: it's khushi and gham."

Although the audience acceptance was achieved, you weren't allowed to enjoy it, did it affect you?
"I feel a certain level of acceptance. We live in our own little world and there's so much more out there we don't really get into contact with. That's why I make it a point to read every mail I get, when I come to London people come up to me on the road and say the most beautiful things, and I think back and say to myself, 'Why was I upset with one stupid man who wrote one stupid thing about my film?' There are hundreds of smiles and hundreds of beautiful things I've heard and that's God's way of telling me that this is your audience and it's acceptance. If I can make so many families across the world happy, isn't that an achievement in itself? So why should I let one critic's cynical attitude and attitude towards cinema bring me down.  The most important thing to a filmmaker is audience support and that I know I have."

You share a special bond with London, tell me about that.
"The vibe of London just inspires me. I love the place and the weather, when it's dull and grey and raining, and the occasional sun when it comes out. Being in London makes me very happy, I think when I land at Heathrow it just puts a smile on my face. I don't know exactly what it is about the place, it 's just I can never feel low or depressed in London. Somehow it has a tendency of making me want to just go out there and have a great time. I genuinely feel good there and when you feel good you think good and you make good films."

Did you draw from any real life experiences for any of the relationships assayed on screen in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham or were they entirely the work of fiction?
"Every filmmaker draws from his own experiences and observations when making a film. A lot of me and my father might be there in a dramatised form on screen. I definitely think the lack of communication is an aspect that I've met within the film that I do go through with my father as most fathers and sons go through. There's a tendency of feeling a lot and not expressing it, and that aspect I have borrowed from my own relationship with my father. But overall there's a basic goodness I get from my parents that during my upbringing they've imbibed and therefore I've emulated and hence produced on screen. I've gained a lot from them like the values they've taught me which I've depicted in my own way on film. That's why the parent-child relationship has come across so naturally because there's so much I've observed and made more cinematic and dramatic, things like I stopped saying 'I love you' to my father when I went from being a boy to man. Why did I stop expressing my love for him? Why do we suddenly become so conscious of hugging them and kissing them in the way we used to, why do we do that? I also tried to develop a screenplay around those questions I've asked. There' s a lot of me in the film and everyone because ultimately we all go through the same thing."

If your film is to relay one message, what do you want it to be?
"I hope people take the message of the film home with them that if you love your parents tell them. Because one day it may be too late and you might miss out on saying it and the most common complaint I've heard from people who have lost their parents is 'I didn't even get to tell him how much I loved him' or 'I didn't even get to tell her I loved her', why do you want to wait for that situation? Go home and tell them."

Indian cinema has such a diverse audience and crosses many divides and classes, how do you as a director make a film that caters to such a universal audience?
"You're right Fuad, we are the only cinema in the world that has such a diverse audience. If you see a French film that's made and caters to an international palette it also is in tune with the sensibilities of the viewers in France. Here you have the Wall St yuppie who's watching your film with his family abroad and you have the man in Bihar for whom you have to spell things out and give him a simplified narrative, and you want this film to work and break those barriers, it's the most difficult thing to do. I wanted K3G to work everywhere - in Bengal, Bihar, UP, in New York, UK, Malaysia, South Africa and today I've achieved that, and it's not easy. I wanted to make you in London smile, a relative in Chandigarh laugh and the same in New York, and it worked. For me it was all about loving my audiences as well and it's difficult to strike the balance and if you look at the graph in the last ten years it's only three or four films that have done that and broken the mould. There's Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham which are the only four films that have worked everywhere."

K3G has just come out on DVD, tell us about this version that you've decided to release.
"The DVD contains the film in its truest form with nothing cut and in widescreen format, unlike the pirated version which has twenty minutes or so cut from the film, is trimmed from the edges and so on. This official release is presented to you with the correct sound, in anamorphic widescreen, in digital format and is exactly how I want it to be seen."