Less stars in industry a crisis, says Karan Johar

Mumbai, July 11 (IANS) Filmmaker Karan Johar terms the minimal number of stars in the film industry as a “crisis” and hopes that the country starts loving more and more stars very soon.
Present at the launch of a digital portal Talent Next, Karan, asked about the few options filmmakers have to cast in their films in terms of stars, said: “Yes, big problem. 100 movies to make and six of them only that can sell your movie, suddenly you take anyone else and they say ‘you won’t get the budget otherwise, then the music won’t sell, overseas won’t sell, satellite won’t sell, digital won’t sell, nothing sells then.
“We’re going through a crisis. There really are those many actors who are in trade parlance are viable, saleable. It is very limiting, we have very few movie stars and I hope the country starts loving more and more stars very soon. And gives them longevity as movie stars so that we can actually have the choice.The way that we used to love our movie stars up to the 1980s that madness and insanity is definitely depleting with time.” he added.
Karan has worked with some of the biggest superstars of the country right from the beginning of his career like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kajol, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor, Jaya Bachchan among others but then made a film ‘Student Of The Year’ with newcomers – Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra – who have now established themselves in the industry.
“When I was making ‘Student Of The Year’, I used to feel very sad on the set, there was no star on that set ever… We definitely have to launch faces, we make films with big budgets, we have to sell them. We are producers at the end of the day. I’m not a corporate studio, I’m not funded internationally, I don’t have that pool of wealth lying to take that chance with, I need to have a selling face, then work around it.
“When I made ‘Student Of The Year’, it was a chance I took, fortunately things worked out but it doesn’t work like that always.”
Karan’s next is again with stars, Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan And Anushka Sharma.