FREE SPIRIT...: J : Johar's Cliches - Hindi Films / Bollywood #AtoZChallenge 2019

Karan Johar is this monstrous phenomenon in Bollywood / Hindi films. He heads one of the most successful production houses, Dharma Productions. He has had his hands in almost all the big, super hit films in last few years. He dons several hats. He is a producer, director, screenwriter, costume designer, chat show host, reality show judge, part-time actor and he also has a radio show. He has this knack of being successful at everything he does. Success defined as minting money here or attracting audiences in millions. In fact he was also the presenter / distributor of Hindi version of the most successful Indian film franchise ever - Baahubali.

But this post is about the director Karan Johar. He is a school of film-making in himself. As a director, he has directed 6 full length feature films and two short stories as part of two anthology films. His films are largely entertaining, appeal to masses, and are made in typical Bollywood musical style. As far as his direction is concerned, he doesn't necessarily break new grounds. Though I have always found depth in his screen writing. He has brought to Hindi Cinema, a certain sense of visual flair and aesthetic which is not very real, but it has a definite Johar stamp on it. This has also led to certain cliches and tropes in his film-making style which I am going to write about.

His imagination of educational institutes in India and the students studying there is one cliche he should get real about. In his version, colleges are designed like Disneyland, students wear branded clothes & hot pants, travel in luxury cars and play sports rather than studying. Even the professors take classes on cool subjects. The ragging that happens in his colleges is also so cute! In fact the people considered poor in his films are those who can't travel in luxury cars but still can afford a good bike. In Karan Johar's world poor people have decent jobs and pucca houses but can't afford to stay in a mansion. Even developed countries define their poor better.

This picture is from his film Student of the Year. Look at what the students are wearing here. Let us now see how the real world deals with it. Here is a news item about one of the most progressive colleges, St. Xaviers, in Mumbai. They have banned sleeveless tops, shorts and ripped jeans on the campus.

In the following video from the Student of the Year, a student is not allowed to park his bike as it is reserved for another student's car. Which college has reserved parking for cars in India for students? Also as per this article, the bike Siddharth Malhotra is riding in this film is among the top preferred bikes of college students.

Now here are two scenes from his debut film as director, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. In the first scene the hero is ragging one of the leading ladies. In Karan Johar's world ragging is harmless fun. In the second scene, a professor discusses love. What fun subject! Don't forget to note the way students are dressed in these scenes or the way they are behaving in general. Also the classrooms and colleges here are far more colorful than the kindergarten school my kid goes to.

By the way here you can read about the real world ragging and its influence on students.

Just like his version of colleges, Johar's version of love is also pretty colorful. His love stories are set mostly in either a modern milieu or a fairy tale milieu, where there are no real conflicts. Over the years, we have been conditioned to believe that a love story becomes an epic only if the conflict is strong and real. But Karan Johar believes in making his love stories epic by the following two techniques:

1. Shoot a love ballad lavishly in front of great pyramids and make us believe in the epic nature of the love story. By the way this beautiful song from his film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, is a dream sequence, another clever cliche of Hindi Films to transport us away from reality.

2. The second technique used by Johar to make us feel his love stories, is color syncing. Either his leads will be color coordinated always, or his backdrops would lend color to his stories. Look at the use of blue, yellow, orange and many more colors in this soulful ballad from Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.