Abid, Bollywood Trade News Network

It all started in 2003 when Dharma Productions, led by the extremely successful and talented Karan Johar (under the patronage of Yash Johar), hired an outside director Nikhil Advani to direct KAL HO NA HO. The film which had Shah Rukh Khan at his charming best was runaway super hit. Then it was Soham Shah who was handed the baton of direction under the prestigious Dharma Productions and he too passed the acid test with KAAL (2005). The film due to the excellent promotion (King Khan's Red Chillies too was involved) and a good star cast sailed through.

However both the directors, Soham Shah with LUCK and Nikhil Advani with the much hyped SALAAM-E-ISHQ and CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA could not achieve success outside the Dharma Productions banner despite everything going for them.

In case of Soham Shah it was a big banner Shree Ashtavinayak and huge star cast like Sanjay Dutt and the then teenage sensation Imran Khan and superb publicity, but he failed. Ditto with Nikhil Advani who too was provided with a grand platform to showcase his talent in the multi-starrer, SALAAM-E-ISHQ and CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA, where he had the support of Akki the hit machine and Deepika Padukone. On both the occasions he failed.

So, it appears that it is actually Karan Johar whose magic rubs off on his directors. Recent most examples are that of Tarun Mansukhani in DOSTANA and Ayan Mukerjee in WAKE UP SID both of which are successful films and these first time directors are a name to reckon with. Even Katan's KURBAAN being directed by Rensil D'Silva is tipped to be a winner by the trade.