Both 34-year-old men have helped put India on the international map. Karan Johar, the man with the Midas touch on the silver screen, and Sourav Ganguly, Team India’s most successful captain, fielded tough questions on the second day of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit with aplomb — and did not drop a single catch.
Karan johar
While Shah Rukh Khan is “like family”, Ram Gopal Varma “doesn’t like me, I don’t like him”, he admitted. “He said Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham was one of the scariest films he has ever seen. I don’t think he’s seen a couple of his own!” But Varma’s Satya is in Johar’s top ten films list. “I could never pull off films like Lage Raho Munnabhai and Rang De Basanti,” he confessed. “I can make films about emotions and relationships.” And were Preity and Rani really “clawing at each other” during the shooting of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna as rumoured? “Not true: the two were so cold, they could not even take their hands out of their jackets!”
Sourav Ganguly
“My life does not depend on cricket, and captaincy has nothing to do with endorsements,” he said, when asked about Greg Chappell’s statement that he was hanging on to his captaincy because of his lucrative endorsements. “Other cricketers also make money from endorsements. That statement was made in anger.”
{{/usCountry}}“My life does not depend on cricket, and captaincy has nothing to do with endorsements,” he said, when asked about Greg Chappell’s statement that he was hanging on to his captaincy because of his lucrative endorsements. “Other cricketers also make money from endorsements. That statement was made in anger.”
{{/usCountry}}Being captain of the Indian cricket team is a “tough assignment”. “You hear a lot when you lose… You have to develop a thick skin,” he said. Rahul Dravid, he felt, is “a great player, but you have to give him time”. About his possible comeback, “It depends on the selectors and my performance. I have a very good chance if I can fit into the team.” poonamsaxena@hindustantimes.com