Karan Johar On Why He Regrets Not Listening To Sridevi’s Creative Inputs For ‘Kalank’

The book ‘Sridevi – The Eternal Screen Goddess’ written by Satyarth Nayak was launched in Mumbai recently by filmmaker Karan Johar. At the event, he recounted how the late actress was responsible for his childhood obsession with Bollywood movies.

Business Standard quoted him saying, “I remember watching ‘Himmatwala’ with my house help in a cinema hall, I went multiple times to watch it and then every other movie after that. I remember dancing on pot and pan just like she had. My love story began with her and it just never ended.”

He further revealed that he was such a die-hard fan that when his father’s film ‘Mukkadar Ka Faisla’ and ‘Mr. India‘ released on the same day, he chose to watch Sridevi’s performance. He went on to add that he could never be a good director to her but valued her creative inputs immensely.

“I am not sure if I would have been the best director for her because I would have been too much of a fan. And somewhere a filmmaker has to be very objective about his or her work. And fandom can make you lose objective and I think I would have lost complete objectivity. So I am glad I never directed her as I would have given her a failure, which she did not deserve.”

Referring to the role of Bahaar Begum in ‘Kalank’ which was first offered to her but was later essayed by Madhuri Dixit after her demise, he said,

“When I narrated a film to her, which she meant to do before she passed away, she had read the script; made her notes; told me a few brilliant things that I wish we had all listened to. She had said some really wonderful and intuitive things. It was my big dream to work with her. But unfortunately, she passed away in February and the film was going on floors in April.”

News18 quoted him saying,

“She always had that sense and that’s why some of her movies were always ahead of their time. She also wasn’t deluded at all. She always knew where she was not good in a movie and that she hadn’t given her 100 percent. Once she told me, ‘This is a dishonest performance.’ I think it takes a lot for you to have that sense of self. I think she wasn’t given credit for a lot of things that actually she was. She was known more as elusive, exclusive, major motion movie star, but there was a ticking brain there that I don’t think she got enough credit for.”

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Wearing my most favourite @manishmalhotra05 ❤️

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He added,

“She had a long chat with me about Meryl Streep once. I remember we were having dinner and I told her what a big Meryl Streep fan I was and she had such a voluminous chat about her with me. I’d never spoken so much to Sridevi in my life. She really loved Meryl Streep. I went back so impressed that she had watched Meryl Streep’s films; studied her nuances; understood her motivations; absorb them and even emulated them. I would go as far as saying that Sridevi was a genius artist. It takes a lot of genius to do what she did in so many different types of films.”

There’s so much we don’t know about stars on the silver screen, don’t you think? Which is why this book will be an intriguing read for all Sridevi fans.

Cover Image Source – left, right

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