Every tear you shed watching my films is a dollar in my account, says Karan Johar

-"You weep and I laugh all the way to the bank,-" Karan said at the 41st Toronto International Film Festival.

Mumbai: Karan Johar got candid at the 41st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where he talked about Bollywood and his upcoming film 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'.

-"It is imperative to give screenwriters their due if Hindi cinema is to move to the next level,-" Bollywood powerhouse Karan Johar said at the 41st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

In a lively onstage conversation at the Glenn Gould Studio, a part of the festival's official programme, he said, -"The industry is trying out new genres and approaches all right, but we do not empower writers enough. The writer is the soul of a film. The director isn't everything they should contribute to that soul.-"

With that goal in mind, his Dharma Productions, he said, has set up a new writing division to encourage the creation of original content for films. -"The movie star is no longer King, content is. The writer is the backbone of a film,-" Johar, 44, asserted.

Speaking about his life and times as a film producer, director and entertainer, Johar was in scintillating form and brought the house down in Toronto on a wet and gloomy Saturday evening.

The nearly 90-minute In Conversation was laced with self-deprecating wit and punchy one-liners that had the expatriate audience asking for more. It was a rousing performance calibrated like one of his glitzy, star-studded films for maximum mass impact.

While the filmmaker lost no opportunity to underscore the increasing global relevance of Bollywood as a marker of India's global soft power identity, he also acknowledged the chinks in the armour of one of the world's most dynamic film industries.

-"The success of a film like Kapoor & Sons is proof that the audience is evolving faster than the filmmakers. Many of us in the industry, including me, are caught in a time warp.-"

Kapoor & Sons, bankrolled by Johar's Dharma Productions, had a gay protagonist. -"Six actors rejected the role because they were scared to play a homosexual character. Fawad Khan, who took the part and owned it, is not only a great actor but also a brave one,-" he said.

Johar was asked about the autobiography that is due for release next fall. -"It is titled An Unsuitable Boy. It has got everything in there the good and the bad,-" he said.

About his upcoming film, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Johar said, -"The film is an ode to myself without being self-indulgent. It is about the angst of falling in love without reciprocation. I am the brand ambassador of that emotion.-"

-"Every tear that you shed (when you watch a film of mine) is a dollar in my account. You weep and I laugh all the way to the bank,-" Karan said on a lighter not.

Among the other projects that Dharma Productions, which is currently gearing up for the Diwali release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, is a Dhyan Chand biopic. -"We will make that film when we get the casting and the time right,-" he said.

All through the conversation, Johar touched upon aspects of the Mumbai movie industry that make it such a unique beast. Talking about his love for film music, he quipped, -"Why do you a need a therapist when you have Hindi film songs -"

About his shot at acting in Anurag Kashyap's Bombay Velvet, Johar said, -"There were too many gap days and too much hanging around doing nothing. I was bored with the process. That is probably why nobody has offered me another role, not even a bad one that I can refuse,-" he concluded.