Karan Johar Talks About His Financial Struggles At One Point!

Karan Johar is one of the most influential film personalities in Bollywood. He is the one who makes big budget films, medium films and even small projects as well. His 'Dharma Productions' produces a lot of content every year and he is even into film distribution as well. He occasionally writers and directs the films as well. They are mostly successful and he released a lot of South Indian projects in Telugu including 'Baahubali' franchise and others.

He took forward the 'Dharma Productions' banner which started in 1979 and reached great heights. He is now even producing web series and reality shows as well. He is an amazing host too and he is a man of many talents. But there is a lot of negativity surrounding him as well. People often criticise him for making films far from reality and promoting only star kids by not encouraging real talent under his banner. He also gets blamed for being too rich at times and he says that he is not going to apologise for that.

He said, “Right after Dostana, Papa saw a series of about five failures. He had a small export division, which he wanted me to take over eventually. During those days, we used to get movies financed. Financers would give us money and we would pay them back with interest. When one of the films failed, my mum (Hiroo Johar) sold my nani's flat, and when another faced the same fate, she sold some of her jewellery. My father had to sell a little property he had in Delhi. These are the stories I have heard.”

He added, “We were not 'wealthy.' We were what you call middle class to upper middle class. We always had food on the table, I went to a really good school, and my dad drove a reasonably good car. We never travelled out of the country because we couldn't afford it. I grew up in a wealthy neighbourhood. Because I was the apple of my father's eye, he always made me feel like a prince. If pocket money was Rs 25, he gave me Rs 50. I always punched above my weight and lived beyond my means because of my father.”

He strongly says, “Fortunately, though coincidentally, my first, second, and third films did really well. My father passed away after that. Then I took over Dharma. A lot of the money that we have made at Dharma has been made since I started directing. I feel very proud that I could live my father's dream. I worked very hard. There have been times when I worked for 18 hours a day. I work through weekends and national holidays. I work every day. I work for about 16 to 20 hours every day. I sleep for only five hours. I work very hard for the money I have made. I am never going to apologise for that. I believe joy is very critical. I don't want to apologise for spending money on things that give me joy. I love shopping; it's therapeutic for me. Why should I apologise for the wealth I earned through hard work?”