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In focus
When Karan Johar says he never, even in his wildest dreams, imagined his name would appear alongside cinema legend Martin Scorsese’s — especially on the poster of a film backed by his own Dharma Productions — there’s no reason to doubt him. Let’s be honest, neither did any of us. But the unimaginable has happened. Not only did Scorsese come on board a Dharma film as executive producer, but Homebound, helmed by Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan, also received a nine-minute standing ovation at the 78th Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, where it was screened in the Un Certain Regard section.
“I’m thinking about it… I have a feature film which is helmed by Neeraj Ghaywan, and that is the most important part for me… But, at the same time, there is a film that Dharma has produced, which also has a Martin Scorsese credit in it. I don’t think, even in my wildest dreams… If someone told me this, I would be thinking, ‘What are you smoking? That’s never going to happen.’ It’s happened. I can now die and go to heaven or hell, or whoever’s accepting me. I have a film which has Martin Scorsese’s name along (with mine),” he shared during a chat with The Hollywood Reporter India.
Recalling the first and only time he met Martin Scorsese, Karan Johar revealed that his close friend and Bollywood’s Baadshah Shah Rukh Khan, whom the filmmaker often credits as the bringer of all his good fortune, played a key role in making it happen. “My first and only meeting with him was in Shah Rukh Khan’s suite in Berlin. Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio walked in, and my knees started rattling a little bit. They were there for Shutter Island (2010). He was talking to Shah Rukh about archiving Indian cinema. I was just watching them, and in my head, I remember having a thought, ‘Will there ever come a day when I have a conversation with him about cinema?’ I was just sitting there like a fan of a filmmaker. We had My Name Is Khan (2010) as the opening night film in that festival. We even invited him for the show, and he said he would try,” he added.
Mentioning that although he is yet to have his dream conversation with Scorsese on cinema, Karan confirmed that doing a movie with the legendary filmmaker is a far bigger achievement than that. “I’m very elated. I don’t know how to act cool about this; I’m sorry. I’m just, like, really excited.”
Stating that Scorsese gave him all the notes required for Homebound’s screenplay and editing via email, Neeraj Ghaywan shared, “Once he started out on the script, he advised me to shave off a lot of exposition. This was my first time writing a screenplay for a feature film. That was a little daunting because every filmmaker would want to say 100 things in one film. At the same time, you are also insecure, wondering if people at the back have understood what you are saying. He told me to put restraints on some of the arcs that he felt might impede the main narrative. Those points were bang on because they helped me pave the screenplay. During the editing, too, he had such wonderful things to talk about and how to make it shorter, to the point, etc. Sometimes it was such a disbelief to even comprehend that he was talking about my film.”
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