Karan Johar says ‘paid PR and herd mentality’ has hurt Bollywood, while South filmmakers are ‘not seeking validation’
Karan Johar said Bollywood was lagging behind South Indian cinema, as Hindi filmmakers ‘lack conviction’ and the industry is a victim of paid PR.
Karan Johar has talked about why Bollywood is lagging behind South cinema.Published on Jun 16, 2022 02:38 PM IST
Speaking with Film Companion, Karan Johar chalked it down to Hindi cinema being victims of things like paid PR and herd mentality. “I think we are victims of everything we should be running away from, whether it’s paid PR or media blitz, projections, perceptions all of that. That is plaguing. Also I think we don’t have the conviction. We are victims of herd mentality,” he said.
Karan said that filmmakers in the south have conviction when it comes to their work, which the Hindi filmmakers of today lack. He added, “Tamil cinema and Malayalam cinema have always been story-heavy. They have also been commercial and aesthetic. What happened with Kannada cinema and now Kannada cinema with KGF is that they have a lot of conviction. They don’t listen to other things and follow that conviction. They’re not seeking validation, acceptance, approval. They are so confident in their skin and convinced with what they are doing. That’s what we all lack. We don’t have that conviction. Suddenly, if biopics are doing well, everyone will make a biopic. Suddenly everyone has woken up to the syntax of southern cinema and now we want to start doing that. We are all so idiotically unconvinced about our strengths and weaknesses that we just tend to be all over the place. ”
Karan is directing Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, which stars Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. The film sees his return to direction after almost six years. Also starring Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, and Shabana Azmi, the film is set to be released on February 10, 2023.
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