Karan Johar tried to warn Shakun Batra about the ‘polarising’ reactions to Gehraiyaan: ‘I did prep you’

Director Shakun Batra agreed that perhaps some more 'foreshadowing' could have helped audiences prepare for the twist in Gehraiyaan, starring Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | February 22, 2022 09:40 AM IST

2 min read

Gehraiyaan's Karan Johar and Shakun Batra participated in a roundtable discussion with critics. (Photo: Amazon Prime Video India/YouTube)

Producer Karan Johar said that he tried to prepare director Shakun Batra for the polarising response that he was sure that Gehraiyaan would attract. The two participated in a roundtable discussion with critics of the film, whose opinions covered the spectrum.

Karan and Shakun said that they were there not to ‘defend the film, but to discuss it’. Shakun said that the goal was ‘to learn, to absorb, and over time, have the objectivity’ to understand what might have provoked such strong reactions, not just from critics, but also general audiences.

Also read | Shakun Batra on Gehraiyaan’s plot twist, reveals he got abusive emails: ‘Started to question if I am rational…’

“We were talking, Karan and I, before the movie came out, and we knew that there were going to be opinions. We knew there would be polarising opinion, but I never knew the conversation would get here, and be this big,” Shakun said.

“I did prep you for it,” Karan said. “You expected this?” the moderator asked, and Karan nodded. Shakun added, “He did say, this can be polarised. Obviously, he’s somebody who’s seen films release over decades, he has a little more sense of how the audience can react. I was prepared for it, but the intensity…”

Shakun also addressed a common complaint about the movie, that it switches genres without warning, and doesn’t resemble the film that the marketing had made it out to be. “I do agree, can more foreshadowing or a little more preparation for that help? Yes. But I also feel that would give away too much. I want to hold a little mystery, because he’s the guy you cant predict. You don’t know, even in that moment, if he will do it or not,” he said, talking about the scene in which Siddhant Chaturvedi’s character attempts to kill Deepika Padukone’s character.

Gehraiyaan, also starring Dhairya Karwa, Ananya Panday, Naseeruddin Shah and Rajat Kapoor, was released on Amazon Prime Video on February 11.

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