One of the most prominent filmmakers of Bollywood, Karan Johar, recently spoke about the bad state that Bollywood is enduring these days. The ace filmmaker criticized Hindi film industry for its inability to make original content. Opening up about the same, the filmmaker said that the Bollywood lacks the spine and doesn't have the conviction to try original things. He also said that the film industry has started remaking every popular film in Tamil and Telugu.
Speaking on a round table discussion hosted by Galatta Plus, Karan said, "I think the core issue is that we come from a mainstream industry in Hindi cinema, and that includes myself, which does not have one very strong quality that every other cinema on this panel has. That is conviction. We kind of always go with the flow. We had such an original voice in Salim-Javed in the 70s. We created a certain character and the concept of that angsty, angry hero was derived from other cinemas. Then, in the 80s, suddenly something happened and there came a host of remakes. That’s where the conviction loss started. We started remaking every film popular in Tamil and Telugu.”
Giving examples of hot films of Bollywood over the years, he added, "In the 90s, there was one love story that stormed the nation--Hum Aapke Hain Koun. Everyone, including myself, decided to jump on that bandwagon of love, and Shah Rukh Khan was created. But we let go of all our roots in the 70s. Then Lagaan was nominated for an Oscar in 2001 and everybody started making those kinds of films. In 2010, Dabangg did well and we again started those commercial films. That’s the problem. We actually lack--and I say this more for myself than anyone else--we lack the spine and conviction. That’s what we need to get from all the other industries.” His last directorial was Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which was released in 2016. He is now returning as a director for his next project, Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, starring Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, and Shabana Azmi.