Interview with Karan Johar
BY AMREEN OMAR

During this year's Toronto International Film Festival, I sat down for a delightful conversation with India's dynamo director, Karan Johar, who leapt to fame with the smash hit, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998.

His next film, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), was another enormous commercial success in India and around the globe, establishing him as a shining star in his field. He is currently the host of "Koffee with Karan," a popular Indian talk show. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (Never Say Goodbye) (2006) is his most recent film, and was featured as a gala presentation at this year's festival.

AO: Congratulations on the tremendous success of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna! Most recently, we just heard that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has just invited Alvida's script to become part of the Oscar library of scripts.

KJ: Actually, so is Kal Ho Naa Ho, so I'm very happy that both films have gone in. It's a wonderful honour.

AO: You've mastered the family drama, and have succeeded in producing an action thriller like Kaal? Are you interested in exploring other cinematic genres like action or comedy?

KJ: I'm a human drama person. I like human conflict - emotions excite me. Expressing myself and my emotions on celluloid is something that intrigues me and excites me as a filmmaker. I'm not a sci-fi, thriller, horror, who-dunnit type of person. I love watching those films but I don't feel capable of making them. In that respect, I feel very strongly that I'm an incomplete filmmaker, because there's only one type of film I'm able to do - and that's to do with human drama and conflict. I can't do every genre, I think I'd make a mess of a horror film - I'd be more scared than anyone else. I don't have the adrenaline rush to make a thriller. A comedy - well, for me it's all very well to laugh a lot but like life itself which is a blend of laughter and tears - that's what I want to showcase on film. So, it's all very well to have those points of laughter but, I think it's nice to end the film with a moist eye as well as a feeling of happiness. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham is not just a film for me, it's what life is. I think that's what I like to project even on film. So, a complete comedy would not excite me - what I like to portray is a mix of laughter and tears.

AO: One of the most memorable film moments in my life is when I saw Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I walked out of the theatre and thought to myself, "That was fantastic."

KJ: That was first love, it was heartbreak. Everything in cinema is an extension of you and your state of mind at that time. So when I made Kuch Kuch, I was just out of college. You hear a lot about heartbreak, one-sided love - unrequited love - so your mindset adheres to those types of areas. So, I wrote Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Then, with all my success, I felt very respectful to my parents and very grateful. You know, having imbibed so many values from them. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham was my way of saying thank you to them for teaching me how to keep my head firmly on my shoulders. You love them so much - you don't want to lose them. I always feared losing a loved one, so I wrote Kal Ho Naa Ho in that mindset - my fear of death, my fear of losing a loved one. Ironically, I lost my father right after that. Then for two years after that, I didn't know what to make. Then I started to hear so many conversations about people's marital woes, rampant infidelity, people marrying for the wrong reasons - crumbling under parental pressure, or marrying because they think they're over the hill, marrying a friend mistaking that for passion. So, I felt that Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was a story I had to tell, because it's dealing with today's realities - the life around us. It's a film that raises questions, but that may not give you the answers, because answers are something you have to find from within. But it's definitely a film that you can like, you can love, or you can hate if you're in denial of your own situation. So, it's a film that's a mirror. If you want to look at yourself, you will, if you don't, you'll probably hate it. And that's what Alvida has done - opened this Pandora's box up for so much debate and discussion.

AO: A classic film that addresses infidelity: Silsila. When I saw this film, the ending did not ring true for me. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna's ending was more realistic.

KJ: There was no other ending for the protagonists, Dev and Maya. They had to get together. And I'm also making another strong statement, which I believe, is that I don't think they'll be the happiest couple ever because they're carrying with them so much guilt. They should never have married the people they did - they made mistakes. That's what Alvida does - it cautions you. It's a very beautiful, sacred institution, an accessible, available institution, but it doesn't mean that you should venture into it just on a whim or on a thought because you feel it's the thing to do. It's a status, not an identity, so give it a lot of thought because you don't know what you will do if you make the wrong choice. You can destroy so much around you.

AO: Do you think there is still a role for traditional marriage in society?

KJ: Marriage is wonderful, and I'm sure it's great for many, but I think it's like a profession. You need to work at it like you work on your job. But you have to enjoy what you do - so you have to love the person you've married - love them intensely. Of course love fades with time, but so does gold and silver, but at least it was gold and silver to start with. Love forms a strong base, a strong crust for you to stand on. If the crust is weak, everything else will fall apart. I don't talk about arranged marriages here, because I personally don't understand that. That's something for me, the way I think, I don't understand how two strangers can be brought together and just start discovering each other. I'm sure it works for many, but I, for one, cannot understand marriage without love, because I feel that intense passionate love is the only ingredient in a great marriage.

AO: There's a growing discussion that, in an international realm, there is no room for songs in a Hindi film. Yet, I know you believe that songs are an integral component of your films.

KJ: I believe that's what sets us apart from the rest of cinema in the world. We're not musicals because in musicals they "sing situations" whereas we stop a situation and sing a song. That's what our narrative has always been about. I love Hindi film songs. I think they contribute so much soul to our films, so much energy, so much passion, so much fun. The whole element of music in film is so "us". If we stop doing that, then we're just another part of world cinema. Here, this sets us apart totally. When you think of Indian cinema, you think of song and dance and celebration. And I think that everyone in the world is just not celebrating, and we are. Everyone else is crumbling under political pressure, social pressure, environmental pressure. Here, we are one cinema in the world that is always happy - exuberant, passionate and celebrational - and I think that is something that should always remain. I think taking the songs out of our films would be like taking the soul out of our body - and no body can function without a soul. And no Hindi film should be minus songs. Yes, some genres, like the horror genre, the thriller genre, may adhere themselves to a songless format, but those should be few and far between. If someone told me to make a film without a song, I would say I'm not making it.

AO: Your actors in the film look great - the hair, makeup and costumes are exceptional. How involved are you in this aspect of the film, and where do you begin?

KJ: For me, aesthetics are very critical. Things that look good and are easy on the eye are very important to me. I like good-looking things. Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and I like to behold beauty. For me, therefore, the clothes, the look, are all very important. Of course, they only form the icing. Eventually the cake is the content. But Manish Malhotra, Sharmishta Roy, my DOP Anil Mehta, my make-up genius, Micky Contractor - I worked with them from the beginning. All these people put together contribute to the look of the film. We sit down, we discuss the colour palette, the look of each character, and we make sure they look lovely, because I think emotions are much more accepted when it comes in a pretty package - that's the way I look at it.

AO: Amitabh's look in the film was hilarious...

KJ: He was flamboyant to say the least. He was over the top, and it's to his credit that he pulled it off with so much class and dignity. There were parts that were shocking - Amitabh is a patriarch in handcuffs, tiger fur no less! It's a film that broke molds, and I thought if we're going to break molds - let's go all the way. Bachchan is wonderful, he's like the godfather of the film fraternity. He's the only one who could pull off this role with the type of class, dignity and emotion. You feel for the character. Even on his death scene, you're completely with him. So he's flamboyant, and he's new and he's different. I don't think he's ever done a role like that.

AO: It seemed like he was having a blast!

KJ: More than him, we were on set.

AO: You shot part of Kal Ho Naa Ho in Toronto. Any plans on shooting an entire film here?

KJ: I'm not close to it right now, but you never know where life takes you. I had a great time shooting Kal Ho Naa Ho scenes here for ten days - we tried to pass it off as New York. I loved that outdoor - we had a lot of fun. We shot with Saif and Preity - the whole Kuch to Hua Hai was Toronto. We enjoyed it thoroughly - we completely enjoyed shooting here. Who knows - I might come back. I love the city, I love the vibe. You know, a city always has a vibe when you land into it, and when I land in Toronto, I've been here a couple of times, I always feel very happy. I'm happy being here today, and when you're happy, you do good things. So, who knows, I may be back here.

AO: So, how long are you going to make us wait for another film?

KJ: I don't know - I'm still ideating, trying to fructify germs in my head. After a film, you have this whole buffet of ideas circling your thought process. So, one of them will excite me the most and I will make it, but I don't know what that one is.

AO: Who are you dying to work with that you haven't worked with yet?

KJ: I've worked with pretty much everybody, but I haven't worked with Aamir and I'd love to work with him. I think he's a great actor and always wonderful to watch. He's very intense, very passionate, and extremely talented. He's the one actor I would love to work with.

AO: You're at an international film festival - which international directors do you admire, and do you plan to see any films while you're here?

KJ: You know, I wish I could, but I'm only here for two days and I'm doing a lot of promotion and media. I love lots of filmmakers - there are lots in Hollywood that I look up to - but my favourite international filmmaker is Pedro Almodovar. I absolutely love his films. I think he is exciting to watch, he is unpredictable, and his narrative structuring is always outstanding. I watched Volver in London before I came here, and I loved it. I love all his films, though I think that he is uncharacteristically sedate these days. Well, that is also fun to watch because he was so wild in his earlier films. He's going more and more the other direction...but that's what happens with age, evolution - it sort of calms you down. It makes you want that constant pat on the back less often, and you start doing things for yourself. That shows in Almodovar's recent work. Whether it's All About My Mother or Talk To Me, or now Volver - it's all fantastic. The women are always superb in his films.

AO: I'm a fan of your show Coffee with Karan, so I thought today I'd turn the tables and ask you some controversial questions.

KJ: I don't promise I'll answer all of them!

AO: In Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, whose performance did you like the best: Amitabh, Shah Rukh, or Abishek?

KJ: Ummm. Rani's!

AO: Hindi Classics: Chandni, Silsila, Kabhi Kabhie. Best film?

KJ: Kabhi Kabhie. By far.

AO: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. The best Karan Johar movie?

KJ: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Always will be. You don't forget your first love, do you?

AO: What movie will you be in line to see this Diwali/Eid season? Umrao Jaan, Don, or Jaan-e-Man?

KJ: Don!

AO: Casting combination that most appeals to you: Aamir and Shah Rukh, Amitabh and Rekha, Ajay Devgan and Kajol:

KJ: Aamir and Shah Rukh by far!

AO: George Clooney, Tom Cruise, or Tom Hanks: Hollywood actor you'd most like to work with?

KJ: Neither. I have no interest in making a Hollywood film. I love to watch them, I have immense regard for their work, but give me Aamir or Shah Rukh any day!