One on one with Karan Johar

“I would love to take credit for Shah Rukh’s ‘Ra 1”
‘Ra. 1” is clearly Shah Rukh Khan”s biggest, most prestigious and expensive film till date, ”Ra. 1”. As has been a known fact, Shah Rukh Khan has put together the entire project along with the people closest to him. In fact the only odd man standing here was the one who was (ironically) holding it all together, director Anubhav Sinha, and many were left surprised about the director of ”Cash” managing to make the final cut. People were even more surprised when Karan Johar visited the London shoot of ”Ra. 1” a few weeks back.
Rumour mongers had a field day declaring that Karan had to step in when the going got really tough during the film”s outdoor shoot. It was even being speculated that Anubhav had been sidelined in the process. Since Karan has been a close friend and associate of Shah Rukh for over a decade and a half now and has contributed to some of his biggest hits like ”Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, ”Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham” and now ”My Name Is Khan” with him, it was imperative that he was there alongside him during the filming of ”Ra. 1”. However, Karan Johar denies that he had anything to do with the making of the film.
Karan, your visit to London during the shooting of ‘Ra. 1’ led to raised eyebrows…
I and Shah Rukh are a family and we both are there for each other. Didn’t he do a song (‘Kaal Dhamaal’) for me in ‘Kaal’ even though he didn’t have any part to play in the film?
But then media was led to believe that you eventually directed a few shots in the film as well.
I did call ‘action’ for a couple of shots since Shah Rukh and team wanted this as a good luck charm. However, there wasn’t anything like me calling the shots there. If someone claims so, it would be highly irresponsible. Come on, Shah Rukh has a capable director (Anubhav Sinha) making a film for him. There was no need for me to do anything.
Still, what started off as a friendly gesture took the shape of unnecessary rumors floating around. In fact some even assumed that you were roped in so that you could give an extra special edge to the romantic flavor of ‘Ra. 1’.
‘Ra. 1’ is a hardcore action film and there is no space for much romance. If Shah Rukh was making a love story and he would have called me to do something special for his film, tab bhi baat samajh mein aati thi. Shah Rukh would be mad if he even dreamt of me doing anything for an action film. I am the last person he could think of when it comes to getting thrills or action on screen.
That does remind me of the time when during the filming of ‘My Name Is Khan’, Shah Rukh had taken it upon himself to get the thrills look perfect on screen.
Aur kya (laughs). I am totally incapable when it comes to the action department. In fact the only action sequence I have ever directed in my life has been made of slap and that too was in a family film like ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’. By no means can I contribute the brilliance of ‘Ra. 1’. All credit for the film goes to Anubhav Sinha.
You seem to be quite impressed with Anubhav here.
In fact I would take this as a compliment if someone actually says that there is something in ‘Ra. 1’ that looks like my work. That’s because the film is so well made and I have done nothing in it. I would be more than happy to take credit for ‘Ra. 1’ even without contributing to it. Works for me, right? (winks)
On a serious note, don’t you regret the awkward situation that Anubhav got into?
Of course I do. I regret that this episode snowballed into something that was totally unimaginable. Anubhav has unnecessarily found himself in the middle of a storm in the time when he was all concentration into putting together this biggie. I guess this entire thing just boomeranged.