Filmmaker Karan Johar will grace an episode on a podcast.where he admitted that Telugu is the ‘most lucrative’ regional industry in the country. In the last few years, the Telugu language industry has been dominated by the films of SS Rajamouli, with whom Karan partnered up on the Baahubali movies and more recently, Brahmastra.
Karan said in a recent interview that it no longer makes financial sense to launch newcomers in the film industry with theatrical releases, because even though people flock to see celebrities in real life, that doesn’t translate to ticket sales. He also repeated something that he has said previously, that some movie stars have deluded themselves into believing that they are still box office draws.
He said, “I might be murdered for saying this, but if you are opening to Rs 5 crore and you are asking me for Rs 20 crore, how is that fair? Delusion is the one disease that has no vaccination.” It was in 2018 when Karan first addressed this issue, which has only magnified in the post-pandemic era. “They’re all crazy! Crazy, with a capital ‘C’. They’re cuckoo, many of them. Just because their two films do well suddenly it’s all me, myself and I,” he had said.
However, this is not the first time that Karan Johar has slammed actors with big salary demands. Previously in 2018, he had said a few major stars in the industry had deluded themselves into believing they still had the power to draw audiences. He said that they demand salaries in double digits but can’t open a film. Karan Johar’s next film is Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, releasing this year. It stars Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi and Jaya Bachchan.