Ram Gopal Varma, for a while, had called his banner “The Factory,” candidly admitting to what he had become as a film producer. Today, independent banners like Yash Raj Films, Mukta Arts when it had first gone public (as in shares) and corporates like UTV, Eros, Percept et al are still known to be filmmaking factories. Rakesh Roshan, at the time of “Krrish,” had sardonically told India-West that Filmkraft does not intend to be one.

Ever since Yash Johar passed away, Karan Johar has also become one of the multiple producers. This year, within two weeks (January 26 and February 10, he has had two releases, “Agneepath,” the only hit of the year so far, and “Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu,” which despite a weekend collection lesser than “Players,” is expected to be a profit-earner because of the controlled budgets. And as of now, Karan has a record nine films coming up, though only a couple are in active production (as in shooting or fixed schedules). 

The first film is Karan’s own, “Student of the Year,” his first directorial venture without Shah Rukh Khan, which introduces three newcomers on screen – Varun Dhawan, Siddharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt. This Malhotra is not to be confused with the director he launched of the same name.

After this, the other films happening are Rensil D’Silva’s next starring Emraan Hashmi, Ayan Mukerji’s “Jawani Deewani” with Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, Punit Malhotra’s next (no longer starring Shahid Kapoor though, because of date issues), the re-launch of director Ruchi Narain (of “Kal”Yesterday And Tomorrow”), Sonam Nair’s directorial debut, a co-production with Ekta Kapoor to be directed by Akshay Roy, a film starring Hrithik Roshan whose details are yet to be finalized and a co-production with Sajid Nadiadwala that is the official adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s “Three Mistakes Of My Life.”

Encouraged by the response to both his latest films, Johar says he will continue to launch new directors. The list so far includes Nikhil Advani (“Kal Ho Naa Ho”, his only success to date), Soham Shah (“Kaal”), Tarun Mansukhani (“Dostana”, its sequel is not happening as of now), Ayan Mukerji (“Wake Up Sid!”), Siddharth Malhotra (“We Are Family”), Punit Malhotra (“I Hate Luv Storys”), Karan Malhotra (“Agneepath”) and Shakun Batra (“Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu”).

Buoyed by the success of these two films, Johar is no longer the insecure filmmaker who wanted lucky mascots like Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukherji, his close buddies, in his films, even if in cameos. On the contrary, the industry looks upon him as a mentor to new talents. And it is one of the best-kept secrets of the industry that things are no longer hunky-dory between Shah Rukh Khan and him. 

On the other hand, the huge success of “Agneepath” vis-à-vis the fates of “KANK” and “MNIK” has shown Karan that lip-sync songs (at which he wanted to ‘puke’ if he had to shoot one, pre-“MNIK”) and desi content has taught him vital lessons.