Karan
Johar
has
matured.
And
how!
In
his
forthcoming
Imran
Khan-Sonam
Kapoor-Sammir
Dattani
starrer
I
Hate
Luv
Storys
directed
by
debutant
Punit
Malhotra,
the
producer
actually
takes
huge
potshots
at
the
mushy
kind
of
cinema
that
he
and
his
closest
filmmaker
friends
like
Aditya
Chopra
and
Kunal
Kohli
made
in
the
past.
There
are
pointed
and
precocious
references
to
Karan"s
Kuch
Kuch
Hota
Hai,
Aditya
Chopra"s
Dilwale
Dulhaniya
Le
Jayenge
and
other
mushy
films
of
the
romantic
genre
that
created
box
office
history
a
decade
ago.
I
Hate
Luv
Storys
is
Karan
Johar"s
first
film
on
the
film
industry.
There
are
references
in
the
plot
to
the
record-breaking
romantic
films
by
all
of
Karan
Johar"s
colleagues
including
pal
Aditya
Chopra.
Of
course
Karan
doesn"t
spare
himself
either.
Apparently,
the
film"s
die-hard
Bollywood-hating
hero
Imran
Khan
keeps
making
digs
at
Karan
and
his
kind
of
cinema.
Significantly,
I
Hate
Luv
Storys
comes
after
Karan
has
shifted
from
romance
to
a
serious
political-human
statement
in
My
Name
Is
Khan.
He"s
ready
to
make
that
creative
shift
away
from
the
genre
he
is
identified
with.
In
fact,
I
Hate
Luv
Storys
goes
all
out
to
emphasize
the
fact
that
Karan
has
outgrown
mush.
Says
Karan
sportingly,
“Of
course
I"ve
outgrown
mush.
And,
if
I"ve
to
make
Kuch
Kuch
Hota
Hai
today,
I"d
do
it
in
a
completely
different
way.
Yeah
I"ve
outgrown
mush.
But
I"ve
not
outgrown
love.
In
I
Hate
Luv
Storys,
Imran
plays
a
die-hard
cynic,
one
of
those
upper
class
Mumbai
dudes,
who
looks
down
on
Bollywood.
And
he
keeps
making
barbed
comments
on
mushy
movies."
Karan
admits
that
the
film
takes
potshots
at
him
and
his
cinema.
He
says,
“But
that"s
okay.
A
new
generation
of
directors
like
Puneet
Malhotra
who
directs
I
Hate
Luv
Storys,
have
come
in.
They"ve
their
own
take
on
love.
And
somewhere
what
I
did
in
Kuch
Kuch
Hota
Hai
may
seem
outdated
now."
While
Karan
is
happy
about
potshots
being
taken
at
his
cinema
in
a
film
produced
by
him,
one
wonders
if
Karan"s
colleagues
would
be
as
sporting
about
being
spoofed.