Bollywood was simply going through a lean period in the last couple of years, and the industry was always going to bounce back, according to filmmaker Karan Johar, who is currently enjoying the success of his most recent film, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. Gadar 2, starring Sunny Deol, is close to earning Rs 400 crore in the domestic market, and he also expressed his joy at its success.
Karan said that this is not the first time the Hindi film the industry has experienced difficulties and that people have written off Hindi filmmakers. “I never thought there was any problem with what Bollywood was doing. We have had bad years in the past, and we were having another one or two bad years. It doesn’t mean, ‘Boycott Bollywood’, ‘They are dead’, ‘The South is taking over’. South is great. What they are doing is amazing.”
The director stated how, with SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, he was one of the first to release a South Indian film in the northern markets. He said, “I was the first one who went with all reverence in my heart to Rajamouli sir and wanted to present Baahubali. I am obsessed with them. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam, the four kinds of cinema have catered to different kinds of audiences and have done it with super conviction. So, I have a lot of respect for them. But I also have a lot of respect for the storytellers we have in our Hindi cinema.”
View this post on Instagram
Karan continued, “Gadar has blown everyone’s brains away because it was a movie that was hugely successful in 2001, and now in 2023, it is breaking every record. This success at the box office and the return of the audience to single-screen cinema halls are both results of Gadar 2.” The single screens have made me so happy. ” When he was asked whom he’d message if he hypothetically got his hands on Sunny’s phone, Karan joked that he’d text the entire film industry and tell them that ‘this is how it’s done’.
The filmmaker promised that Bollywood buffs will get many more films like these. He added, “If you will see, all these movies that have done well are riding on one very strong quality, that is, core conviction. They are not looking at validation from anybody else, neither social media nor film critics. Everyone is making personable films that appeal to their sensibilities, and I think that’s what is going to happen, more of that in the future. We will be riding this wave every year.”