Karan Johar stresses need for better gender politics in Hindi Cinema

• Karan Johar, a renowned filmmaker, expressed his views on Hindi movies.
• He praised Alia Bhatt’s “Gangubai Kathiawadi” as a “big victory” for cinema.
• Johar emphasized that cinema should provide large-scale entertainment without propagating incorrect gender politics.

Karan Johar, known for his talent as a filmmaker and his candidness, recently shared his views on Hindi movies. The director of “Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani” called Alia Bhatt’s “Gangubai Kathiawadi” a “big victory” for cinema and emphasized that Hindi cinema needs to get its gender politics right.

During a recent conversation with Lilly Singh on her YouTube channel, Karan Johar was asked about one thing he would want Hindi cinema to have to evolve. The filmmaker quickly admitted, “If we can get our politics right.”

He noted that cinema should provide large-scale entertainment, visual spectacle, joy, and emotions, without getting its politics wrong. “You can entertain a large audience across the nation without propagating, positioning, or platforming incorrect gender politics, social norms, or ways of being. The basics just have to be followed,” he explained.

The filmmaker further expressed concern about films becoming blockbusters despite not communicating the right messages. He mentioned that only self-censorship could help, emphasizing that censorship doesn’t truly exist in the world.

According to Johar, when women achieve success in India, it represents a small victory for the gender. He cited the example of “Stree 2”, led by Shraddha Kapoor, acknowledging that while men in the film had significant roles, it was ultimately driven by a woman.

Karan also spoke about Alia Bhatt’s Gangubai Kathiawadi and addressed the issue of pay parity in Bollywood. “When Alia did Gangubai Kathiawadi, that, to me, was a big victory for cinema. That character was completely driven by her performance, and it opened to larger numbers than many leading men who are movie stars,” he said.

He noted this as a sign of a woman’s ability to lead a film in an industry where men demand higher pay, claiming they bring in more revenue. He pointed out that women’s movies are now opening to much higher numbers than some big male movie stars, whose films are seeing dismal box office.

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