Karan Johar on Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani success: 'It was a make-or-break situation for me'

Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt starrer Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani has turned out to be a winner at the box office. Apart from its entertaining plot and star performances, the family drama garnered praises for showcasing the issues in the contemporary society in a subtle but impactful way. Filmmaker Karan Johar, who returned to director’s chair after 7-long years, said that the success of RRKPK was very important for him.

The truth is that I’m a bit overwhelmed. It’s not that I was not hoping for this. But I think the environment in our industry was kind of turbulent at the time and I haven’t released a film that I’ve directed in 7 years. Plus, the last three years were not easy on me or the industry. There was a lot of negativity. And all that anxiety kind of built a ball of anxiety inside me which I hadn’t addressed," said KJo in a chat with the film fanatics hosted by Shubhra Gupta. “I had brushed a lot under the carpet because I wanted to appear resilient - to not only my family but also to my company. It all came out at the week of the film’s release, with the anxiety and panic attacks. There was no sleep, there was just sheer nervousness,” recalled Johar. He added, “Right now, when people talk to me about the film I still have a bit of that in me. It’s going to take a while before this film leaves my system. Because I hadn’t realised how stressful it was for me. Even though I feel failure is very critical in anyone’s journey, this time I felt I couldn’t afford to fail. This film had eventually reached a stage where it had to be like a make-or-break situation for me.” _Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani_ also features Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi, Jaya Bachchan, Kshitee Jog, Anjali Anand, Churni Ganguly and Tota Roy Chowdhury in prominent roles.