After Dharma's creative head critiques Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Karan Johar applauds '12th Fail'; Says,'Passed the test with flying colours'

Filmmaker Karan Johar shared insights into the rebirth of theatrical Hindi films in 2023 and the evolving landscape of the industry. He pointed out that the film preferences that succeeded in the 1990s may not resonate with today's theatre-going audience. However, he emphasised the significance of outliers like '12th Fail', a drama film that fought expectations and became a word-of-mouth success in late 2023.

In an interview with Forbes, Karan said that the theatres are overflowing with love, and the cinematic experience is back. But the digital medium is equally strong, and the digital revolution remains. This isn’t the rule, but there are some genres and subgenres that are more celluloid-friendly.

He added that '12th Fail' just passed the test with flying colours. To anybody’s mind, that might have seemed like a great digital film, but it turned out to be a solid commercial success. Well done to the team and to Vinod Chopra, who’s such a veteran. The tent pole films and the big cinematic experiences are more for the cinemas. And genres like dramedies, family comedies, or suspense thrillers are more difficult to sell theatrically. The films that defined our 90s and early 2000s are not easy to sell today.

Recently, the creative head of Karan’s Dharma Productions, Somen Mishra, criticised '12th Fail' director Vidhu Vinod Chopra for not crediting his writers appropriately.