Filmmaker Karan Johar, who has often supported movies adapted from a book, a Bollywood classic or an international movie, says remakes shouldn’t be looked down upon.
In the past, the filmmaker has produced remakes like “Agneepath” and “We Are Family”. He is also working on the official remake of popular French film “The Intouchables” and Hollywood movie “Warrior”.
“Remake is not a bad word. We loosely use the word ‘copy’, but it’s not a copy. It’s an adaptation. Adaptation is an art form. Very few filmmakers get it right and it’s mostly difficult to do,” Karan said during a session titled “An afternoon at Film Bazaar with Rajeev Masand” on the final day of Film Bazaar here Monday.
The head honcho of production banner Dharma Productions also said that he is not in the film industry just to make money.
“I understand the ethos of Hindi cinema, so I produce Hindi films. I am aware of Marathi, Tamil and Punjabi films, but I don’t understand the ethos of their industries. So, I won’t get into that. I won’t produce an English film either for the same reason,” said Karan, who has supported films like “The Lunchbox”, “Gippi” and “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”.
The “My Name is Khan” director, known for making breezy and romantic comedies, says that as a producer, he is open to all kinds of genres.
“I want to attempt a thriller and other interesting genres, but those kind of scripts don’t come to me. I always get multi-starrer or romantic comedy kinds,” he said.
Karan also said that he is willing to work with anyone irrespective of gender.
“Sonam Nair is the only female assistant who has become a director, but I am not gender biased. I am open to anyone — man, woman or child, making a movie,” he said.
Known for nurturing talents like Nikhil Advani, Ayan Mukerji, Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan, he says they taught him a lot.
“Nikhil taught me about the technicalities of cinema. I just knew wide, mid and close. He helped me more than that. In a way, he mentored me. The ones launched by me, they keep me young. I didn’t even know EDM (electronic dance music) or FOMO (Fear of missing out). Varun and Sidharth introduced me to those terms while doing ‘Student of The Year’,” he said.
