Karan Johar cautioned Shakun Batra about ‘polarising’ responses to Gehraiyaan.

Before the film’s release, Karan Johar cautioned filmmaker Shakun Batra about the ‘polarising‘ responses that Gehraiyaan would elicit.

At a roundtable discussion with reviewers, Johar and Batra discussed the film’s mixed reviews.

Controversy has been swirling around the movie since it came out. It stars Deepika Padukone, Siddhart Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, and Dhairya Karwa, and it has been a hot topic ever since.

“We discussed it; Karan and I, before the film’s release, and we anticipated that there would be disagreements. We anticipated polarising views, but I had no idea the discourse would reach this point and be this large, “Shakun said.

“I did prepare you,” Karan said. He nodded when the moderator inquired if he anticipated the‘strong‘ response before the film’s premiere.

“He did remark that this may be divisive. Obviously, as someone who has seen the release of films over decades, he has a better grasp of how an audience may respond. I was prepared, but the intensity… “remarked the director of Kapoor and Sons.

The producer-director team said that they were there to ‘talk‘ the film, not ‘defend‘ it, and that their objective was to ‘learn, absorb, and eventually have the objectivity‘ to comprehend what would have sparked such a response from the public and reviewers.

Batra also addressed another prevalent audience issue regarding the film’s genre. He discussed how many people complained that the film abruptly switched genres. The audience was taken aback by the surprise, since the promotion was in direct contrast to what the film had in store for them.

“I concur; might further foreshadowing or a bit more preparation help?” he said. Yes. However, I believe it would be giving away too much. I want to maintain a sense of mystery about him, since he is the kind of person that is impossible to anticipate. Even at that time, you have no idea if he would execute it or not.” He was talking about the time when Zain (Siddhant) tries to kill Alisha (Deepika) with a knife.