Director Karan Johar on Why He Won’t Make Hollywood Movies: ‘The World Needs to Wake Up to Indian Stories’
variety.comLeo Barraclough International Features Editor Indian filmmaker and TV personality Karan Johar has become the first Indian director to receive the Variety Vanguard Award, recognizing industry leaders who have significantly contributed to the global entertainment business.
On Saturday, Variety’s executive editor of film and media, Tatiana Siegel, handed Johar his award at the third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival, followed by a career-spanning conversation.
The director-producer-TV host came out of a seven-year directing hiatus with the highly successful “Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.” The pause, the filmmaker says, was due to his busy schedule as head of the production company Dharma Productions and the host of “Koffee With Karan,” one of India’s longest-running and most popular talk shows. “Being a studio head, you have many responsibilities and I wanted to direct more often.
My primary passion is being a director,” he said. “When I sleep at night, I think of stories, I don’t think of conversations I have on a talk show.
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