Sarita A Tanwar (DNA; September 19, 2017)

So what will be Karan Johar’s next film? Will it have old favourite Shah Rukh Khan or will he repeat Ranbir Kapoor? This time around, will he direct yet another film on relationships or a family drama, which he does so well? So many questions. And only KJo has the answers. So we posed the questions to him, and true to self, he didn’t shy away from talking about his future plans, about his next directorial venture, and his banner. Read on...

What kind of a film do you see yourself directing next?
I actually think about that every day and I do not know the answer. I have never been more lost in my life on what I want to do next. Every day, I wake up with a different idea and I am like, ‘No, it is not exciting me’, I know the kind of film I can’t do. What I can do, I have not yet been able to tap into.

Isn’t there a sense of ‘it has to happen now. I have to direct now’?
I am very restless. I am jealous of all filmmakers in my company who are making movies and I am not. The other day, Ayan (Mukerji) had a photoshoot and I went on the sets and I was like, ‘Shit, I really want to make a movie.’ I want to be a director again. Because producing movies is amazing and it is satisfying and it is great for the company, etc., but the pleasure you get out of directing a film on your own and putting out your narrative is another thing.

Many scripts must come to you, why don’t you direct one of those?
They come to the company, none of them come to me.

Any reservations about directing a film that comes to you as a project?
If somebody sends me a script that appeals to me, I will direct it in a heartbeat.

Will your next film also be about relationships?
Might not be. I might do something away from what is expected of me. I feel, one day I will make a film that no one is expecting me to make and everyone will actually applaud it.

You do relationships so well, like Yash Chopra, why would you want to do something else?
Yes, even Yash Chopra did very interesting work. Like the film that we are remaking now, Ittefaq, is actually a song-less thriller. I would love to direct a thriller, but I just don’t know how to write one. I would love to direct one though.

If you get a thriller, will you direct it?
In a heartbeat. If I love it, I will be on the set tomorrow.

What about remaking one?
I never wanted to direct a remake of any film. If you remake, then you remake an immortal classic that you think you can interpret in a different way. Otherwise, I am not seeing a film I want to make again. We made OK Jaanu and I watch a lot of South movies; storytelling down South is on another level. It is amazing. They have better writing. We have not empowered our writers the way they have. Writing is what is sorely lacking in our cinema.