Shabana Azmi didn’t want to have makeup on during Rocky Rani funeral scene. This was Karan Johar’s hilarious reply

Mumbai Nov 4 On the final day of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2023, Karan Johar was in conversation with South African actor Charlize Theron. They discussed a variety of things, including but not limited to filmmakers’ obsession with making their actors look all put together with perfect hair and makeup even in situations that don’t need it.

Charlize Theron said that she didn’t quite get why people would put lipstick on her when she had just fallen off a truck. Karan then talked about how Shabana Azmi (whom he called the Indian equivalent of Meryl Streep) had a similar debate with him on the sets of their film Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.

“I never want you to see any of my movies. Because even when they are dying, they have everything ready,” he said, making Charlize cackle. “Their hair is blow dried, they have lipstick on, there is no compromise.”

Talking about Shabana Azmi, Karan Johar said, “I worked with a very prolific actor, Shabana Azmi, she is a veteran actor, won a National Award. I could equate her to Meryl Streep. That good. And she was in my recent film and we were filming a scene in the kitchen. She had blow-dried hair, a beautifully draped saree, hair and makeup done. She says, who cooks looking like this? I said in my film, that’s how it’s gonna be.”

“And then there was a funeral sequence. She says ‘Please can you allow me to remove my makeup here? Someone just died.’ I was like, ‘Well not too much of it. Because the lenses are sharp and I don’t want you to look a certain way. She said there is no reality. I said I am not going for it.” Charlize laughed but appreciated how Karan ‘knew what he wanted’. Karan cracked up again as he said he gets scared when critics like his film, which was the case with Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.