He might be a celebrated filmmaker and hardcore professional, but Karan Johar was also an extremely worried man a few days ago. The director, who is making a short film that will be part of the documentary commemorating 100 years of Indian cinema, fell ill while shooting it and then spent a sleepless night worrying if it would impact the budget.

“Karan was running a high temperature. Plus, he was throwing up. So he took a day off. But the next day, he was back on the sets and shooting continuously for three
reasons — deadline, budget and the stars’ dates,” says an insider close to him.

All the filmmakers (Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Karan) had to submit their short films by a particular deadline. “Plus, Karan was also concerned that the stipulated budget might go up if the shoot was postponed. Also, he had got Randeep Hooda, Rani Mukerji and Saqib Saleem’s dates and didn’t want to waste them,” adds the insider.

Karan has now wrapped up the shooting of his yet-untitled short film. “He is busy with its post-production and editing. He is excited about it and can’t wait to start work on its release strategies and  marketing,” says the insider.

Zoya’s film apparently features Katrina Kaif, while Amitabh Bachchan plays the lead in Anurag Kashyap’s short. On the other hand, Dibakar’s film stars Nawazuddin Siddique. The film will release on May 3.