The teaser trailer of Karan Johar produced ‘Brahmastra’ was released on Wednesday (December 15). The first look of the sci-fi movie suggests that it draws heavily from the Indian gods with the lead character of Ranbir Kapoor wielding a Trishul. The movie is expected to tug onto the beliefs of the particular ‘cinema-going populace’ which lately has been miffed with Karan Johar for his antics.
After facing public backlash for bullying fellow artists, promoting nepotism, indulging in excess activism, and the entire Sushant Singh Rajput controversy, Karan Johar has seemingly learned his lesson. The Bollywood biggie has started to produce movies that do not push the ideas of the left-wing brigade.
Shershaah and Sooryavanshi – Karan trying to change his style:
Before Brahmastra, Karan Johar came up with Shershaah based on the life of brave heart Captain Vikram Batra, who was awarded India’s highest military honour Param Vir Chakra for his heroics in the Kargil War posthumously.
However, Karan’s friendly left-liberal lobby trashed the movie and gave it low ratings, despite the masses loving it. As Shershaah wasn’t woke enough, showed the reality at its face value, the left critics simply didn’t like it.
It was a welcome change from Karan who backed a movie that had patriotism at its core. In addition to Shershaah, Johar also came up with Sooryavanshi starring Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, and Ajay Devgn that glorifies the police which, as most leftists, abhor as a concept.
However, that also makes one believe that Karan has hopped on the popular trend of selling nationalism and Hinduism to the public to get away from criticism and his shoddy past.
Read More: Shershaah despite being a Karan Johar movie is getting negative reviews on liberal platforms
Cockroaches survive nuclear attacks, Johar survives a country’s backlash:
The precarious situation that Karan found himself in one and a half years ago – most would have perished. But taking a lesson from a cockroach that can even survive a nuclear attack, Johar persevered and is flying high at the moment.
Moreover, amidst the handful of controversies, Karan received the fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri award last month which makes one believe that he is not in the bad books of the government.
And why will he be? After all, Karan has been openly applauding Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the Uttar Pradesh government for building the new film city in Noida.
Anchoring the 52nd International Film Festival of India in Goa last month, Johar said “India is a country with all kinds of landscapes. Especially, Lucknow, Varanasi and Kanpur of Uttar Pradesh. If you shoot there, the stories emerge automatically.”
What happened last year?
In the immediate aftermath of Sushant’s death, Bollywood biggies like Salman Khan, Mahesh Bhatt, Karan Johar, and others who promote the culture of nepotism and the godfather-esque culture were shown the mirror by the public.
Johar and his Dharma Production were the primary targets of brutal trolling on social media platforms. Such was the effect of trolling that some reports suggested that Karan had broken down as a man.
An article in Bollywood Hungama written by Subhash K Jha revealed that Karan had been wallowing in self-pity. The article read, “Karan is a broken man. After being trolled for years he thought he had developed a thick skin. But the brutal hatred that he has received after Sushant’s death has left him shattered.”
Outspoken actress Kangana Ranaut time and again has mentioned that Karan Johar spearheads the grotesque culture of nepotism in the industry. In an interview on Karan’s own show, ‘Koffee with Karan’, Kangana had called him the ‘torch-bearer of nepotism’ and the ‘snooty’ Bollywood mafia.
Karan Johar on several occasions has confessed that he is part of several Bollywood WhatsApp groups that are formed solely with the purpose to manufacture gossip and leak it into the media.
Whether it be the planning of his PR team or a true soul-searching exercise by him – Karan is seemingly on the right track, for the moment. His slate of future movies like Yodha and Jug jug Jeeyo suggest that he is not letting go of the current momentum and genre of movies that has brought him success and no backlash.