Netizens divided over Karan Johar’s ‘If KGF was a Hindi film, it would not have got the love it has got now’ comment

On March 27, Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar was the host of the trailer launch of KGF: Chapter 2 in Bengaluru; a gig during which he said he found the footage mind-blowing. The film, which released in theatres on April 14, went on to take the box-office by storm across the globe. In India, the Hindi belt contributed the lion’s share, which goes to show how well it was received in north India.

This, says Karan, speaking in an interview with Film Companion, happened only because KGF: Chapter 2 is a south film and that the outcome would not have been as rosy if it were a bonafide Bollywood film instead. Praising the clarity of vision that filmmakers from the south bring to their films, be it SS Rajamouli with RRR or Prashant Neel with the KGF saga, Karan added that Bollywood doesn’t share the same level of conviction. Yet at the same time, the Dharma Productions head is categoric that if KGF: Chapter 2 had been made by a Bollywood team as a proper Hindi film, audiences would have ripped it apart. “When I read the reviews of KGF, I’m like if we made this, we would be lynched. We are not given any kind of leeway and then we are trying to be somebody else. So, we are all over the place,” he was quoted as saying.

Netizens, of course, took up the filmmaker’s comments, with many supporting him that if Bollywood were to present ‘anti-gravity’ action like in KGF, audiences would cite physics to show its improbability. However, they did point out that the success of films like RRR and KGF was not down to only the actions sequences, but a combination, with great story-telling, cinematography, elevation sequences, background score, etc. His naysayers, meanwhile, added that if Karan were to make a film like KGF, he’d ruin it with a bunch of ‘nepotism’ star kids. Here’s a look at some of the reactions to Karan’s comments.