Filmmaker Karan Johar and his company Dharma Productions were recently in the news and 50 percent of its stakes were sold to billionaire businessman Adar Poonawalla’s Serene Productions for ₹1,000 crore. It was much more than a business transaction for Karan Johar, and in his own words, the filmmaker was ‘traumatized’ by all the industry jargon.
During his conversation with CNBC TV18, Karan Johar shared, “I didn’t know I had a value. I found out. I’ve to say this. I’m probably not going to come across as clever. I want to come across as who I am. I was traumatized in so many of those meetings. I’m a creative artist. I don’t know what’s a ‘put’ and a ‘call,’ a ‘drag’ and a ‘tag.’”
Karan mentioned Adar kept saying – ‘I’m going to drag and you’re going to tag,’ and for Johar ‘drag’ means something totally different.
“I know what a ‘tag’ is in the price tag I pay in the retail zone. I know ‘put’ and ‘call’ in a very different way altogether. I had no idea what was happening when those Excel sheets would come in front of me. Your reality is staring at you,” he added.
Karan shared how people even tell Adar that he has paid so much money. “I say, ‘Has he really?’,” says Karan reacting to such claims.
Talking of Adar, he spoke about his dynamism, which he finds very inspirational. Karan Johar mentioned the major part of their deal was done on a Zoom call. Right after a few questions, he wanted to sign the dotted line.
“We’d been deliberating for years! Then he comes in, sweeping us off our collective feet. This is how I’d have loved to do business if I could afford to. And I can’t afford to, of course. He can,” added Karan.
With Adar onboard Karan feels he is now more responsible and accountable to his company.
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