Karan Johar News | Karan Johar New movie | karan Johar upcoming movie

karan Johar wants to go back to work. 

Back to the studios, to his creative collaborators, back to making movies: “It's oxygen for \ our souls. [But] right now I feel like I am breathless." Johar would have started shooting his new multi-starrer his- torical, Takht, in April had the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown not played villain and made him stop mid-set construction. "It's [Takht] a massive film and I am definitely going to make it," he says. What he doesn't know is when. Under normal circumstances, filmmak- er-producer Zoya Akhtar and her team would have been in full prep mode for the second season of Made In Heaven. And a new series that she is producing with Ree- ma Kagti, with Sonakshi Sinha in the lead, would have been wrapped up with shoot- ing completed in Rajasthan in May. But her team had to pack up a quarter of the way into shooting. When they will get back is anyone's guess, so Akhtar's been using this time to catch up on life's little things, to read and write and "recharge the batteries and replenish" before moving on to the new era of Indian Cinema 2.0. As with so many other sectors, the lock- down has dealt a crippling blow to the In- dian film industry. According to Shailesh Kapoor, founder and CEO of Ormax Media, Mumbai-based media consulting firm, the gross losses from all-India box-office re- venues alone are estimated to be around 12,500 crore in the last 2.5 months, of which the Hindi film industry accounts for 45-50%. Losses can mount to about 5,000 crore gross, if theatres remain shut for the next two-three months. Then there are cancelled shoots, dis- mantled sets, films stuck in the middle of production, professionals without jobs, daily wage workers trying to make ends meet, tentpole films left without theatres and audiences, and many middling to big films ready for release and trying to find homes on OTT platforms. Considered non-essential So what does life ahead look like for the in- dustry when the lockdown lifts? How will cinema be consumed in the future? Will streaming take over theatres? For the moment, everyone is busy framing guidelines for the expected come- back. An 'Enhanced Safety and Precau- tions Plan', drafted by the Multiplex Asso- ciation of India, under the aegis of FICCI, was submitted to the Ministry of Informa- tion and Broadcasting last week. The Pro- ducers Guild of India has released its gui-delines too. The hectic lobbying with the ministry happens for a reason. The situa- tion is trickier for cinema than any other industry. Although films and shows might be keeping people entertained at home, and stars are harnessed for messaging or charity drives, in the economic pecking or- der, the industry, despite being celebrated as a soft-power, is low in priority when it comes to 'revival' packages. Arts, litera- ture, culture and entertainment are inva- riably bracketed as non-essentials. "There is this thinking that 'yeh to ameer log hain, inka kya hai,' (these are rich people, they needn't worry)," says filmmaker Sudhir Mishra, who was in the middle of post-pro- duction work for his Netflix show based on Manu Joseph's book Serious Mem when the lockdown was announced. Ajit Andhare, COO, Viacom18 Studios, agrees: "We are the backbenchers, perhaps rightly so, be- cause right now we are dealing with a na- tion that's struggling to feed its citizens." Ironically, the debate on the future has started at the last mile with the focus on how cinema will be consumed. Movies re- leasing on streaming platforms have caused exhibitors and theatre owners There are boys who walked from Mumbai to Tiruchi during the first few days of the lockdown. Are we going to tell their stories? Or forget this happened and move on, asks director Vetrimaaran much heartburn. "The battle is unneces- sary. It's not a 'versus' situation," says Jo- har. "Producers can't afford to hold back completed films, and if they don't get oxy- gen, they will die and there won't be enough content even for cinema halls." Sanitised sets Clearly, what the industry needs now is not just new ways of seeing, but new ways of thinking how content is imagined and created has to see a substantial shift. Ra- tionalisation in budgets, workforce, equipment is bound to happen. Contain- ment and sanitisation costs for production houses, studios, makeup rooms, vans and theatres will go up exponentially. The 12- hour shifts might be reduced to eight hours. "The entire system will be upend- ed," says Bhaskar Hazarika, writer-director of critically acclaimed films like Aamis and Kothanodi. It was evident in Akshay Ku- mar's recent shoot for a public service film directed by R. Balki at Kamalistan Studio. The limited crew looked like astronauts, and temperature checks, distancing and hygiene norms were strictly followed. "Unlike manufacturing, shooting is not a controlled and organised sector," ex- plains Andhare. "To try and mount proto- cols on what is fundamentally a creative process will pose challenges." The first to change, thus, will probably be smaller ven- tures and TV units, where there's less at stake. The last to make over will be the big projects with huge scales and stars. Not just because they need more human, fi- nancial and technical investment but also because they are the ones who can afford to wait it out. With travel and hotels badly hit, a big question mark hangs over settings and lo- cales as well. Will a story set in Uttarak- hand mutate into one with Kolhapur or Goa as backdrop? How will such changes reflect in the characterisation, cultural context, and dialogues? Meanwhile, films are being shot at home. Nandita Das made Listen To Her, a short on domestic abuse, at home, using audio bytes, with herself and her son in key roles. And Prasoon Pandey's Family, on social distancing and COVID-19, was al- so shot in the actors' homes. Another trend is emerging - that of making movies entirely with local talent. Hazarika is stuck in Assam where he had gone to oversee Assam's first iPhone film, a road trip comedy. What would have been his first Hindi film as director-writer has been pushed back, but some unanticipat- ed projects are emerging. "I am likely to stay on in Assam for the foreseeable fu- ture," he says, where he figures he can shoot at least two Hindi web series with lo- cal crew and actors. "We have enough technicians here to mount a Bollywood-le- vel film," he says. "The opportunity is there; it's about who gets to exploit it and how... It's not about being reactive but looking five years ahead and making a move now." The worst hit are the people involved in production work, but does that mean wri- ters, editors and those in post-production jobs and music composition are working in splendid isolation? Alas, no. Editor Namra- ta Rao is grappling with "editing in a vacu- um." She misses the luxury of sharing first cuts with others or taking the director's in- puts. "The eyes [that look at a film's rush- es] are mine only. There is no one to soundboard; no counsel... The fun of col- laboration is gone," she says. Unprecedented creative blocks and an- xieties are affecting all. "Anyone in content creation will tell you writers are having a tough time," says Johar. The ambiguity, he believes, is the worst dampener for the creative community. "Angst and inner peace can both give you enough material to write. But how do you create while in limbo?" Wait and watch Actor-director Konkona Sen Sharma pref- ers to wait and engage with the new reality as it emerges. She anticipates an interest- ing time, with creativity and innovation coming to the fore. Filmmaker Anjali Me- non is busy completing her new script, but isn't sure what comes next. Like Sharma, she wants to see where things are headed. "It's a time of great change and we have to be sensitive to it," she says. Johar grapples with other questions: for instance, will masks, gloves, shields, PPES become part of the costumes of con- temporary films? "If it's not incorporated in a 2020 film, it would run the risk of be- ing disconnected," he says. Not just props, the economic, social, political, medical, and emotional impact of the lockdown is bound to reflect in the stories we tell. Says Johar: "We are all combating a massive world war. We can't go back to normal films and pretend that all we went through didn't happen. Cinema has always been a grand reflection of its times and these are our times." Akhtar agrees: "Be it disastrous or cathartic, it has been a massive, globally resonating experience that is going to find a way into all kinds of narratives." Earlier this month, Gautham Menon re- leased a 12-minute short, Karthik Dial Seytha Yenn, on YouTube, and he set it in the lockdown. A continuation of his 2010 superhit love story, Vinnaithandi Varu-vaya, it has Trisha and Simbu as leads and was shot in their homes by their families. Its music and post-production wor so done remotely. It has had more million views on YouTube so far. Filmmaker Vetrimaaran says it vest: "There are boys who walked from Mumbai to Tiruchi during the first few days of the lockdown. Are we going to tell their sto- ries? Or ignore them? Are we going to ques- tion the system for not planning this pro- perly? Or forget this happened and move on? Are we going to question the people who are making it region-specific, religion- specific, caste-specific? These are serious questions we need to ask ourselves." He then adds, "But whatever the situa- tion might be, the hardships we may have to go through, art should happen... Art is the conscience of man."