Southern cinema is like an iPhone, they keep on updating their craft: Karan Johar

Director, producer, distributor, actor, and almost an elder statesman of Indian cinema, Karan Johar is someone who wears multiple hats effortlessly. Now, in the prevailing lockdown phase, without his films and talk shows, Karan has turned to document the lives of his children. Will they too follow suit like Karan's other famous launches into cinema? "I will get trolled for nepotism. If ever they want to walk into the industry and I have to be their stepping stone, then I am afraid..." said Karan, in a chat arranged as part of Indulge Time Pass, a series of webinars organised by The New Indian Express group. Karan, who shared that he satiated his inner "history nerd" with the multi-starrer Takht, called his last directorial, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, his most personal. "A big part of Ranbir Kapoor in Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was me. I've been through unrequited love for many years. When I wrote and directed that film, I went through a cathartic journey and I could finally get over that love," he said. However, when asked about the polarising opinions this film evoked, and also other projects, he replied, "I believe problems are problems, be it rich or poor. But when I look back, I understand that Ranbir's character came across as a kid screaming for a toy rather than an aashiq madly in love. I messed up by giving that film too much of a first-world treatment."This is something he agreed went wrong in Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna too. "My intent is in the right place, but my execution is faulty. I think larger-than-life even when some stories don't warrant it. Some stories don't require large set pieces, lavish songs, large-scale environment, etc..."