Should politicians be talking about films? Karan Johar isn't so sure

Karan Johar wants Indian politicians to focus on the country's socioeconomic problems rather than films.

The filmmaker was part of a panel discussion "Can we avoid the spread of so-called ‘culture wars’?" at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday, where he shared the stage with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Alice Bah Kuhnke (Minister for Culture and Democracy of Sweden) and Arlie Russell Hochschild (Professor of Sociology at the University of California).

Speaking about the boundaries of art, KJo mentioned the accusations hurled at him for casting Fawad Khan in his film. Johar said, "Art should not have boundaries but then culture and patriotism is thrown at the artists."

According to KJo, "You can't enforce culture or imbibe it. There are immense economic and social problems, but sometimes the main papers and politicians don’t talk about them because they are focused on a film. It’s empowering to the film industry, but it’s ridiculous."

On the morality of tolerance, the filmmaker was quick to say, “There is a risk that tolerating intolerance in others can be misconstrued as validation."

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2018 is being held at Davos till January 26. Watch the discussion here.