Karan Johar: 'Take inspiration from Stree 2 for multiverse, Sholay is a great textbook film and Laapataa Ladies is just joyous'

Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar discussed films recently and of course, Stree 2, Sholay and Laapataa Ladies were mentioned.

Sholay, Stree 2, Laapataa Ladies

Stree 2 has been set in history, since the movie went from just another release to coming close to becoming the highest-grossing film ever, beating Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan at the box office. At the same time, Laapataa Ladies is making the right kind of noise by being nominated for Oscars 2025. And of course, Sholay has been an iconic movie for decades. Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar, who were among the few celebrities at a roundtable discussion recently, spoke about the iconic films and had a strong opinion on them. Here’s what they said…

Take the example of Stree 2 for your multiverse: Karan Johar

Talking about the box office numbers of Stree 2, Karan pointed out to The Hollywood Reporter that the audiences these days pick a movie that they have seen before, mainly because they can just afford to watch two movies a year (owing to the drastic shift with OTTs being more reasonable and theatres being an expensive affair). He then spoke about horror-comedy being the most popular genre across Hindi cinema and how Stree 2 makers didn't even realize that it would become such a big hit. Made on a budget of Rs. 100 crore, he stated that the rooted content was the core strength of the film. The filmmaker went on to add that everybody will have to take the example of Stree while making their multiverse movies. It is to be noted that Stree paved the way for Maddock Supernatural Universe, which produced Janhvi Kapoor’s Roohi, Varun Dhawan’s Bhediya, and Abhay Varma-Sharvari’s Munjya before the release of Stree 2.

Also read: Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan experiment with their roles, younger generation not open to it: Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar

Sholay is a great textbook film, Laapataa Ladies among great ones this year: Karan Johar

When asked which was the last great Indian film they saw on screen, Zoya mentioned Sholay. Karan called it the great textbook film. Eventually, Zoya picked Laapataa Ladies and Kaathal. Karan also picked Laapataa Ladies along with the 12th Fail. The filmmaker was weeping at the end of Vikrant Massey’s movie. “I watched it at home much later. I didn’t watch it in the cinema,” he mentioned. The last time he felt that way was when he saw Udaan. “12th Fail just stuck with me, while Laapataa Ladies was just joyous,” he said.

Also read: Karan Johar rejected superstars for Kill: They asked me for Rs 40 crore, which is the budget of the film

Karan Johar and Zoya Akhtar discuss their working style

Karan reveals that he loves background music and finds the process of writing daunting. Back on the sets of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and K3G, he noticed a large live orchestra. “Like a symphony, an orchestra, you can elevate a moment,” he recalled. KJo spoke about the late Lata Mangeshkar singing in the midst of it and called that cinema. He feels like he doesn’t have the privilege of doing that anymore, but believes in old-school background score.

Zoya, on the other hand, loves writing and shooting. She doesn’t like editing and hates dubbing. Karan also agrees with the latter, sharing that he has never attended a single dub. “I know I won’t like it and I’ll drive them mad, so I don’t go to it at all,” he said. Zoya revealed that she has cried at least once in every film edit. Karan ended the conversation by stating that there are times he has gone on sets with a very blah script, intending to create magic on sets, especially when he’s the producer of the film.

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