Mumbai Mirror: Johar to flash his nine gems

Agneepath accumulated almost Rs 120 crore in its two-week run. And Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu made as much as Rs 23 crore in the first weekend. And after the twin success of his two back-to-back releases, Karan Johar is all set to launch as many as nine new projects this year under his banner Dharma Productions.

Interestingly, the two successful Dharma releases this year have been direted by debutante filmmakers Karan Malhotra and Shakun Batra. Mumbai Mirror has learnt that KJo, will now launch a few more first timers.

When contacted, Karan Johar told Mumbai Mirror, "At Dharma, we have already introduced nine directors. We are extremely proud of their films. Taking the train of thought further, we plan to expand our production base and launch many more first time filmmakers in the immediate future."

And surely enough, KJo's plans for the year include a lot of fresh talent - in acting as well as filmmaking.

Firstly, in his maiden co-production with good friend Shah Rukh Khan, Student Of The Year, KJo is all set to direct three new actors - Varun Dhawan, Siddharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt.

The filmmaker will also launch Dharma talent Sonam Nair as a director this year. For his co-production with Ekta Kapoor, KJo has roped in debutante director Akshay Roy. Ruchi Narain, who had earlier directed Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow, is also being re-launched by KJo, this year.

' We plan to launch more first timers in the immediate future

KJo's 2012 Diary

• His own directorial Student Of The Year
• A film with Rensil D'Silva
• Ayaan Mukerji's Jawaani Deewani starring Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone
• Punit Malhotra's next
• A film with Ruchi Narain
• Sonam Nair's directorial debut
• Ekta Kapoor's co-production to be directed by Akshay Roy
• A film starring Hrithik Roshan
• A co-production with Sajid Nadiadwala which is the official rendition of Chetan Bhagat's novel 3 Mistakes Of My Life

Nine directors launched by KJo

Nikhil Advani
Kal Ho Na Ho

Soham Shah
Kaal

Tarun Mansukhani
Dostana

Rensil Dsilva
Kurbaan

Siddharth Malhotra
We Are Family

Ayan Mukherji
Wake Up Sid

Punit Malhotra
I Hate Luv Storys

Karan Malhotra
Agneepath

Shakun Batra
Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu