Karan Johar, in a new interview, talked about launching Lakshya in his upcoming production Kill which recently premiered at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Riding high on the success of his last release, Ranveer Singh-Alia Bhatt starrer Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani, Karan Johar is now all pumped up for his upcoming production, Kill which marks the debut of Lakshya and also features Raghav Juyal as the antagonist and Tanya Maniktala as the female lead.
The film was recently screened in the Midnight Madness section at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) where it opened to positive reviews. Later, in an interview with Film Companion, Karan Johar was asked if launching Lakshya with Kill is a gentle reminder to people who call him the ‘nepo mafia.’
In response, the filmmaker said, “Yes, it’s not a gentle reminder. It’s right in your face to tell you that you criticize us for everything. You curse us. You speak about the fact that we support and encourage nepotism, nepo babies, all the flak that comes to us. I want to say if you give us the flak, then today give us the credit.”
He continued, “Lakshya is a rank outsider. This is a very expensive film mounted entirely on him. We have produced it, we have funded it, Dharma Productions has funded. Sikhya Entertainment is the creative force of the film. The money, the risk is all ours.”
The director-producer further revealed that Lakshya worked hard for the film and bagged the role through audition.
“I strongly believes that negative attracts more. The eyeballs on the negative stories will always get much more coverage and focus. But a positive story like hey we have an outsider in Dharma, let’s see how many people write about that,” KJo said in his interview.
Lakshya, also known as Lakshya Lalwani, came to limelight when he played the titular role in the historical magnum opus, Porus. After Porus, the actor took a break from TV and was later signed by Karan Johar for Dostana 2. However, that project got shelved. Now, he is also set to make his big screen debut with Kill.
Touted to be a high-octane action thriller, Kill, helmed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, revolves around a pair of commandos who square off against a 40-strong army of invading bandits.