I was not sure at first, when few days back, I began rewatching Kuch kuch hota hai, the first film of one of the most successful commercial filmmaker of this time, that he is the same person who takes 50 minutes of just nonsense fun in his recent film Ae dil hai mushkil to build and dive deep. Precisely, when Alizeh tucks her hand into Ayan’s and he says “you really like me na?”, following an incredibly beautiful scene that has the famous dialogue “Pyaar mein junoon hai, par dosti mein sukoon hai”… Then the next time he has fun is when he dances at her wedding; not exactly fun. I say I felt he is not the same because, after patiently watching the opening credits scene with a happy-sad background score, I saw Rahul crying at the funeral with flashbacks of again sadly toned happy moments of him and his wife Tina . Then follows the 8th letter flashback of fun in college, pain of separation and bliss of reuniting with the love of his life, Anjali. So as I finished, he is really the same. Someone who has never escaped from sadness and will never freely fly in the air of joy.

Today, he is one of the only few I admire in this industry, because he is never ashamed of songs but lately, they are integral to his narrative. As for many directors in the industry, they are not the background noise of marketing (except for couple of his produced films). And when “ladki badi anjaani hai”, a song where Rahul and Anjali are teasing and loving each other, was not fast forwarded in the film or my sister didn’t change the channel, I could see the marriage. The whistle blends to a beautiful score or the stanza swiftly turns the joy of chorus as the words “paas reh ke bhi thi doori…” are sung.  Both music and lyrics of the song organically oscillate between joy and sadness that results something that you really forget she was friendzoned or any faults for that matter. I don’t pretend to find logic or admirable, intelligent cinematic moments when I take a nostalgic trip to these movies, but it still amazes me how could we never change the TV channel, when we had already endured the cheesiness for so long or have known the faults?..Because never did we question the logic in dreams, did we?

That is when I think of kal ho na ho, a film written by Karan that he gave Nikhil Advani to direct. He has often said in his interviews, it was an envy to coolness of Farhan Akhtar’s Dil chahta hai that gave birth to the film. It does surprise me then, what happens when he starts writing a film about cool characters, that it turns out to a soulful experience where every heartbeat is heard till death. Or what happens when expression  of love stationed around infidelity is influenced by glamour and dancing of characters. So, the irony is, his best screenplay to this date, “Kabhi Alvida na kehna”,  has 40 minutes that doesn’t seem to belong to the characters, though not far from the story. He says he regrets it and might make it again if he gets the chance, removing the item songs and reducing the number of characters, which might be fair to the story. But I believe, not to the heart that couldn’t escape joy.

When people say they can’t believe Karan made My name is Khan, my mind questions why can’t they say the same for Student of the year. Two diametrically opposite films of his career, that could be much different without this marriage. People have argued, watching the mind-blowing opening credit sequence of My name is Khan, ending with a dialogue of the title, that it would be a much better and honest film if post 9/11 traumas were more focused than the love story.  Neither honest eventually nor better. Or Student of the year is more fun for high school kids if the relationship complexities were just eradicated from the film. Well fun, might be…But then, will they watch it on TV while having dinner? Certainly not. Because they won’t revisit the story for what it made them feel as we(I) go back to Kuch kuch hota hai.

Every feature film made by any director connects chords with other films they direct. The stories may entirely change its scale and expression but they never cease the magic they begin with. I believe the colours of his first film are still visible in every film he directs. In some, like K3G and Student of the year, the glass is transparent but others open the opaque doors only when the characters speak, through their eyes or tongue, of love or friendship. And they definitely do, in all his films. So, when he describes his next film “Takht” as K3G of mughal era with more betrayal, where will the sadness or joy derive from?.. The unpredictability of what he will do with a story of warring brothers excites me.

I, like many other “lovers of cinema”, couldn’t admit to myself and others that I am a big fan of Karan Johar. Instead, it was always that he makes good or beautiful movies and nothing more than that. Now, when I reminisce the childhood I had or they must’ve had, and remove his movies from it, a small void in filled places tells me that he made us more happy than many we claim to be big fans of. So should I say he did not get his due? Well there is a 27000 sq. ft office to completely decline that. But when his name comes in the name of overrated directors, I remember the words said by Neal Sampat on “The Newsroom” for writing about movies “Why overrated, why not underrated?”..