Mumbai: Ace Filmmaker Karan Johar has now stopped taking opinions seriously and is fine with his attitude getting labeled as “mid-life crisis.” The filmmaker was speaking at the book launch of sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan on 28th March.
“I have stopped worrying about the ramification or what others say. You have to basically become deaf because today opinions are available everywhere. You wake up to opinions, sleep and you’re reading opinions,” Johar said.
Johar, 44, said he chooses to focus on his work than ponder over the consequences.
“People have a lot of time in the world to give you their opinion, it’s what you choose to take in or not to. I have decided, you can call it a good mid-life crisis, I am 44 and I don’t listen to people anymore,” he added.
The director said when he started his career with “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, his aim was to make Dharma productions reach a certain economic stability, and it was only after his father’s death that he began taking risks in filmmaking.
“When I began my career, I didn’t take many risks because the first two films I directed and my father produced, the whole idea there was to seek commerce in art. My intention was to make sure Dharma productions could stand tall and gain the economic strength which we hadn’t before.
“It is only in the last decade and ironically after I lost my father, I grew wings. His constant emotional surveillance may not have allowed me to take few chances in cinema,” he said.
Johar said though he never took any decision which would make him “repent”, he did go ahead with certain choices which made him feel liberated.
“I made a film about homosexuality in ‘Bombay Talkies’ which said how it is sometimes hidden because of societal pressure, I did take that chance because that was the kind of film I was making. Today, I feel there is a lot more freedom I exercise when it comes to my work,” he said.
PTI