‘I Am Going Back to Direction’

You heard this for the first time over here, and straight from the horse’s mouth. Karan Johar, who last directed the successful Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani in 2023, is all set to return to direction. “Yes, I am returning to direction. That is my actual calling. All my other activities are secondary. You would be surprised to know how many people have been asking when I return to direction. So here’s the answer: in 2026, I am directing a film,” he said.

Has he zeroed on what he wants to direct? “Yes, but all I can tell you is that it would be a completely different territory from Rocky Aur Rani...”

Karan Johar, who is currently soaring on the TRPs from the reality show The Traitor, added, “I realized I was investing my energy in other activities and not what I love doing the most. When I look at my filmography, I feel Rocky Aur Rani… cannot be my seventh directorial in twenty-five years. It’s not a great record to have for any filmmaker. I should have made many more films. I realized what I had missed out on when I released Rocky Aur Rani in 2023. The previous release was Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in 2016. This was just plainly ridiculous.”

Not that Karan was being lazy. “No, I wasn’t being lazy. I was busy strengthening my company and a lot of other activities, some of which I now feel I should have curtailed. Of course, I enjoyed whatever I was doing. But now the focus has to be on making films,” he says.