Karan Johar makes a promise even as he tries to shut up his heroes with pacifiers at the trailer launch of his upcoming film on surrogacy goof-up
Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 19, 2019)

Perhaps to make a statement that women can’t be pushed around anymore, Kareena Kapoor and Kiara Advani stormed into the trailer launch of their upcoming film, Good Newwz, pushing their better halves, Akshay Kumar and Diljit Dosanjh, in strollers, their mouths plugged with pacifiers. Producer Karan Johar turned emcee again, introducing Bebo as his production house’s “unofficial brand ambassador”, Kiara as his “own girl” and Diljit as his “partner in retail crime”. He then went on to blame his superstitious director, Raj Mehta, for the extra ‘w’ in the title.

When asked how she landed the role, Kareena channeled her inner ‘Main apni favourite hoon’ diva and quipped, “I thought I was perfect for the part.” Diljit fielded the same question with refreshing candour. “Mujhe laga bas story sunane ke liye hi bulaya hai, part dene ke liye nahi,” he laughed, adding that KJo is guilty of doing so on occasion. Thrown off his stride, the maker quickly moved on to the next question.

Good Newwz results from a goof-up of epic proportions and Karan admitted he often finds himself in soup for accidentally sending “the right message to the wrong people”. But the bigger curveball for the filmmaker is the reputation that precedes his production house. “Every year we say we are going to attempt different films, but we are doomed because no one believes us,” he added sheepishly.

Moving on to more serious matter, Karan addressed the issue of pay disparity in Bollywood, claiming that he keeps things fair. “We pay everyone well, irrespective of gender, or what are they doing on the film, be it actors or technicians. Soon, actresses will be given producer credit as well in a lot of female-centric films,” he promised.

While he remained low-key, answering in monosyllables for the most part, Akshay turned Santa as the event concluded. Turning tables on the media, he posed a lot of baby questions, rewarding the correct answers with impressive hampers. Pumped up by the response, he even cracked a double-meaning joke. In response to the answer that a baby has 206 bones, the same as a full-grown man, he quipped, “A man has 206 bones and in the morning 207.” Guess that’s why KJo had tried to shut him up with a pacifier!
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Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; November 19, 2019)

With several women actors proving that they are capable of carrying a film on their shoulders, gender pay disparity has become a talking point in Bollywood. Karan Johar, one of the biggest forces in the Hindi film industry, is taking the lead in making the industry a level- playing field.

In a first-of-its-kind move, the filmmaker intends to practise the profit-sharing model — a privilege that male superstars have enjoyed so far — with female actors for his forthcoming women-led films. “Soon, a producer credit will be given to [the women headlining the] female-led films because of which they deserve to have a humongous part of the pie. When it comes to female-led films, there has never been a disparity from our end. We have done profit-sharing with them [in the past],” says Johar.

While the current slate of his production house has a sole woman-led film in Gunjan Saxena — The Kargil Girl, Johar promises that he is backing powerful stories featuring women protagonists. “Soon, we will announce some female-centric films for which they will be compensated completely. At Dharma Productions, we have maintained the ethos of making sure everyone, including male and female actors and technicians, gets paid solidly for their craft.”