MUMBAI: Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar are close friends in real life. However, that doesn’t stop them from competing for the same space at the box office.
It happened when Yash Raj’s film on global terrorism New York directed by Kabir Khan competed with Karan Johar’s Kurbaan, which Rensil d’Silva directed. Johar, it is said, even held back his film when he got to know the similarities between the two terror treatises. Resultantly, like the protagonist in Kurbaan, the film bombed.
History is all set to repeat itself with Karan Johar’s self-directed Student Of The Year, coincidentally written by Rensil, vying for the same space as Yash Raj’s Virus Diwan – both young trendy teen flicks set in the college campus. However, this time the careers of other people are involved. While Student Of The Year launches filmmaker David Dhawan’s younger son Varun as an actor, Virus Diwan would launch producer Boney Kapoor’s son Arjun.
Interestingly Arjun Kapoor worked as an assistant director in Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. There was every likelihood of Arjun being launched by Dharma. But when Aditya Chopra showed interest in launching Arjun in a youth flick, Karan decided to launch David Dhawan’s son Varun instead of Arun, in a similar film.
Both the films are young youthful ‘cool’ urbane flicks sets in and around college campuses. Both have a heavy doses of music and romance and both are scheduled for release around the same time.
Naturally both filmmaker-fathers are concerned about their sons’ debut films though they try to brush off their anxieties.
David Dhawan tells Businessofcinema.com, “I really don’t want to comment on the similarities between Karan Johar’s film for my son and Yash Raj’s film with Boney’s son. And why just these two? Even my dear friend Vashu Bhagnani’s F.A.L.T.U with Jackky Bhagnani is in the same genre! Just because these are young campus films they don’t have to be identical. In Hollywood you have so many student flicks like American Pie, Highschool Musical, Accepted and Grease. Can you see any similarity among them? Likewise I want not just my son’s film but also Boney’s son’s film to do well. Just as I am happy for F.A.L.T.U. As for Arjun and Varun’s films being similar, let them come. I hope both are hits. Or otherwise may the best boy win.”
