Karan Johar admits Dharma doesn’t make much profit, says his P&L statements leave people shocked: ‘Is that it?’

Filmmaker Karan Johar spoke about the passion with which he produces movies, and how surprised some people are when they see his profit and loss statements.

Karan Johar seemed to admit that his movies don't make much of a profit. (Credit: Instagram/@karanjohar)

Filmmaker Karan Johar seemed to admit that his movies aren’t as profitable as the world might presume. At the launch event of the Telugu film Mirai, which Karan is ‘presenting’ in the Hindi belt through his Dharma Productions banner, the filmmaker said that people who see his profit and loss statements often wonder if making movies is worth it. Karan said that most people wouldn’t understand that movies are made with passion, and not with profit in mind. Last year, Karan completed a deal to sell 50% of Dharma to Serum Institute of India chairman Adar Poonawalla, and he said that the primary reason behind it was to retain profits as opposed to sharing them with other players.

Taking to the stage at the Mirai event, Karan said, “As they say, our industry looks better from the outside. When I talk to industrialists and other members of the corporate industry, we are nothing… They look at our P&L statements, and they say, ‘That’s it? Is this all you have to show for all the work you do?’ And my response is always, ‘In our business, we don’t look at numbers, we respond to hearts. We make movies not with our brains, but with our hearts.

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Some months ago, at the CNBC-TV18 Global Leadership Summit, where he appeared for a chat moderated by fellow producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, Karan was asked what prompted him to sell a 50% stake in Dharma to Adar Poonawalla. Karan said, “Even when we made big hits, we were always sharing the profits. In this scenario, it gives us the opportunity of increasing and enhancing our profitability, and owning the film entirely. Yes, there will be those massive Brahmastras that we will make that will need the support of a studio. If I make a film that is over Rs 250 crore or Rs 300 crore, it’s not possible to fund that totally at our stage even now.”

Addressing the commercial underperformance of the Rs 400 crore fantasy film Brahmastra, Karan told Bollywood Hungama in an earlier interview, “There are a lot of assets and properties that were created that will move to film 2 and then to film 3. So, the film, eventually, I would like to believe, eventually when all 3 films are made, that it will be a big monetary success for all of us.” But no sequel has been produced yet, nor has there been any firm update about the status of the follow-ups. The failure of Brahmastra, and more recently, the Alia Bhatt-starrer Jigra, reportedly caused a huge dent in Dharma’s profits.

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