Karan Johar says he ‘inherited goodwill from his father but no money', explains why he decided to partner with Adar Poonawalla for Rs 1000 cr
Karan Johar sold 50 percent stake of his production house, Dharma Productions, to Adar Poonawalla for Rs 1,000 crore in 2024. In a recent interaction, the filmmaker spoke about the decision and shared that they took this decision because they wanted to grow the company and needed funds for the same. He also spoke about his company's history and said that they only started making hit films in a row after Karan started directing films in 1998, as before that, Dharma had a string of flops.
Speaking to Raj Shamani on his YouTube channel, Karan admitted that many films of Dharma Productions earlier were collaborative efforts, which is why, the a big chunk of profit had to be divided amongst the partners, and did not stay with Dharma. He said he eventually became wary of making films through such partnerships and explained, 'I didn't want to do collaborative projects so that all the profitability stays with Dharma Productions. Our biggest hits at that time all had partners because we couldn't finance those films on our own ability, because we were new.'
Speaking about his father and late producer Yash Johar's legacy, he said, 'Those who say nepotism, they don't know my history. I inherited goodwill from my father but not money. Before Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, we had 5 flops in a row.' Karan recalled that it was his film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai that resurrected Dharma Productions. 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai's release in 1998 marked the beginning of Dharma Productions as a strong company. What I had was my father's goodwill and his tremendous belief. He had tremendous goodwill, he was loved a lot but he didn't see success,' he said.
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Karan recounted how the success of his films after KKHH, like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Kal Ho Naa Ho, and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, helped build Dharma Productions into a lucrative company. However, after seeing the success of these films, Yash Johar passed away. To help with Dharma Productions, Karan's childhood friend Apoorva Mehta came to his rescue. He said, 'After my dad passed away in 2004, I had to take the company further and I couldn't have done it without Apoorva Mehta (CEO of Dharma Productions). He was my best friend in school and he left his entire life in London and overnight moved back to Mumbai. We have had our own journey. Till date my business acumen is zero but instinct is strong. He takes care of the business part, I am the creative person.'
Explaining his decision to sell stakes of Dharma Productions to Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer of Serum Institute of India, he said, 'In 2023, we realised we need to leverage and grow. In our business to grow organically would have taken me another 5-7 years. I needed the fund to grow and today, I am happy with my partnership with Adar. He is an amazing human being and his instincts are very strong. I feel accountable because this is somebody else's money. I need to get success and make my company profitable.'
However, when argued that Dharma Productions didn't have a good year in 2024 in terms of lucrative projects, Karan defended his films and said, 'Kill was appreciated a lot, Mr and Mrs Mahi was profitable, Bad Newz was also profitable, Jigra broke even and right now we are set to produce our first Punjabi film Akaal, then Dhadak 2 is coming. So we are very excited and bullish about it.'
Further sharing his thoughts on success and failure in the movie business, he said, 'I don't take success seriously or take failures to heart. Failure is a final result. Sometimes I like final result. I have a problem with an average film. I need results. You tell me where I am wrong, I will learn from it and move forward.'
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