Karan Johar has said Bollywood actors now turn down parts for not being ‘alpha’ enough, and then weigh in on casting, visual effects budgets and trailer cuts on films they have not produced. Karan Johar made the remarks in a conversation with Anupama Chopra for The Hollywood Reporter India, published on 11 November. Three decades into filmmaking, he said he is watching the industry chase its own successes, with one hit film spawning a dozen imitations while actors and technicians step into parts of the job that are not theirs.
Karan Johar on the alpha role test
Karan Johar said he is worried by what he called a herd mentality, with artists and filmmakers no longer following their instinct because they are conforming to what they believe will work at the box office. “I’m concerned with the herd mentality; I’m very concerned with confused artists and filmmakers who don’t follow their instinct like they used to, or perhaps want to, because they are conforming to what they believe is box-office friendly,” he said.
He recalled lead actors stopping a narration midway because a character was not forceful enough. “I’ve heard lead actors stop narrations and say, ‘This character is not alpha enough,’ or ‘This character is not front-footed enough,'” Johar said. He pointed to Saiyaara, a romance about an empathetic lover who is “not alpha”, as a recent commercial success that cuts against that demand. The film, he noted, worked without the kind of hero the current fashion insists on.
The questions do not stop at the script. Johar said actors now ask him about the visual effects budget and whether a film has anything deeply rooted in it. “I am being asked, ‘What is your VFX budget?’. How is that your problem?! Will I make a tacky looking film because I want to make money off a bad film? No, I’ll obviously do my best,” he said.
Karan Johar and the casting diktats
Casting is another area where actors now issue instructions, according to Karan Johar. He described actors asking him why one performer was chosen over another for a part in a film they had already agreed to join. “Are you a casting director? No. You are an actor, you are part of the cast. You have agreed. The rest of the cast is not your problem,” Johar said.
The involvement runs further, into work that sits outside acting altogether. Karan Johar said actors increasingly want a say in campaigns, trailer cuts and posters. “I’m flummoxed with people’s insecurities. Maybe it’s vulnerabilities, but I’m reading them as insecurities. I’m surprised and shocked that they want to do everything but act. They want to become box-office gurus, trade analysts, perception setters, campaign makers, trailer cutters and poster makers. When are you… acting exactly?” he said.
Filmmakers share the blame for letting the pattern take hold, Johar said. “Now I feel many of us as filmmakers have been deeply complicit in the creation of this monstrosity. We’ve allowed this because (we feel) ‘It’s too stressful, just say yes,'” he said.
Karan Johar on the exceptions he makes
He drew a line for actors whose experience he trusts. “If Shah Rukh Khan has an opinion, then I will bow down in respect. Not because he is the biggest in the country, but because his experience supersedes mine. If Mr. (Amitabh) Bachchan tells me anything, it’ll be his way. Because his reputation, knowledge base and experience supersedes mine,” Johar said.
Johar also spoke about the habit of copying a hit. He described the background score and craft of Dhurandhar as distinct, and said its success would likely be followed by attempts at imitation. “But every film cannot become that,” he said. For Karan Johar, a single success does not hand the industry a template to repeat.
What he wants instead is simpler. Karan Johar said he longs for what he called good old-fashioned instinct, where the reason to sign a film is plain: “I like the film. I’ll do it.” He put it in terms of arithmetic. “If there was math, we would all be chartered accountants, not filmmakers. We are storytellers. Can we just tell our stories?” he said.
Johar is currently hosting the ninth season of Koffee With Karan on JioHotstar, the talk show where the conversation took place.