Highlights:
- Karan Johar said Bollywood friendships are mostly business-related.
- He revealed that no actor returns money after a flop or shares losses.
- Johar called Shah Rukh Khan the only person who never discussed money with him.
- He dismissed the existence of 'Bollywood camps,' saying studios freely collaborate.
- Karan said he’s done responding to debates around nepotism and industry favoritism.
Karan Johar, often criticized for promoting nepotism in Bollywood, recently shared his thoughts about the film industry’s business-driven nature. In a candid conversation with film trade analyst Komal Nahta on his YouTube show Game Changers, the filmmaker said that friendships in Bollywood rarely go beyond parties and business.
He said that actors are unwilling to take responsibility for flops or share producers’ losses. “No actor says, ‘My last two films did not work, so here, I am returning your money.’ No one is interested in returning money; they only take from you. Dosti (friendship) has never benefited me in my (professional) life. Actors are good and lovely people at parties, but they all mean business. Even I am in the industry for business and not for charity,” Johar said.
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He further explained that even the actors he has launched through his films behave the same way, except for Shah Rukh Khan. “Be it an actor I launched or a friend with whom I share a close bond. Except for Shah Rukh Khan… I feel strongly about him as a friend, a human being, collaborator and a brother… He is the only person who has never spoken about money with me or my father (producer Yash Johar). He would say, ‘Whatever you want, send the paper, I will sign it.’ When I approach him as a director, he won’t even listen to the script. I just have to go to him and say, ‘I am directing a movie and these are the dates I want.’ Money has never been a topic of discussion between us.”
Karan added that, at best, an actor might reduce their remuneration by a crore or two, but they would never go below a certain amount, even for someone who launched them.
Dismissing claims about Bollywood having “camps,” he said that every major studio — including Yash Raj Films, Maddock Films, Excel Entertainment, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, and T-Series — collaborates freely. “We collaborate with everyone. My closest friend and the person with whom I share the strongest bond is Shah Rukh Khan. Yet, he and I have not collaborated in 15 years. Does that mean we are no longer friends or brothers? So, where are these camps?”
Talking about nepotism, Karan mentioned that actors like Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, and Sidharth Malhotra — all of whom he launched in Student of the Year (2012) — have since worked with many other production houses. “I am tired of talking about camps and nepotism. I don’t even justify anything now,” he said.
