He bought the rights of Amish Tripathi’s best-selling debut novel two years ago, but is far from starting work on the ambitious project. And now with a US producer buying the English rights of the same book and Hollywood all set to start work on the movie, KJo could have lost his advantage. Is his laidback attitude to blame? Or is he doing too much?
When Karan Johar decided to bring the world of Meluha alive on the big screen, he said, “For me, it is not just another film. I would say it would be a game-changer for Dharma.” Well, we thought the same too. After all, as a novel, Immortals of Meluha was a huge success and we all know it’s not easy to recreate mythology on the silver screen. The buzz around the whole ‘KJo making a film on Immortals of Meluha’ got louder when reports about Hrithik Roshan playing Lord Shiva in the flick started doing the rounds. But sadly, nothing happened. And soon the curiosity to know more about Karan’s dream project died down. However, Immortals of Meluha is back in the news – not because the Koffee with Karan host is ready with his film or even a script, but coz a US producer has bought the English rights of Amish Tripathi’s bestseller. And we won’t be surprised if the Hollywood version hits the screen first. After all, of late the go-getter attitude in KJo seems to be missing. And for this very reason wethinks he could lose the opportunity to cash in on the success of the Meluha story.
In fact, that’s not the only project that seems to have taken a back seat in KJo’s working life. The producer-director-actor is yet to start working on Dostana 2 and Shuddhi – two of his long-awaited films. Looks like the director-actor-producer is going the Shekhar Kapur way. Yaad hai, Kapur’s Paani has been in the making forever; and there was Tara Rum Pum Pum and various others we cannot remember now.
Frankly speaking, we aren’t that excited about any of Karan Johar’s films any more. Of course, work could be going on behind the scenes, carefully hidden from the media, lekin who knows! In a way, wethinks that KJ is spreading himself too thin, woffling between his chat show, judging TV reality contests and trying to be an actor. He does have powerful friends, from Deepika Padukone to Salman Khan. So a lot can be done if he moves his …err … behind to get it all done. But if Shahrukh Khan’s best buddy doesn’t pull up his socks and get going, the audience will stop caring. Something no director/producer can afford, hai na?