A couple of unrelated casting stories came out yesterday about some films Dharma has in production.  Well, unrelated except that they both prove Karan Johar is the choice of stars looking for a safe place to launch their kids.

First, it is basically confirmed now that he is actually launching Shahid Kapoor’s little brother Ishaan and Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh’s daughter Sara in a film together.  I’ve already talked about how this is creepy creepy creepy, considering the previous real life romantic relationship between Ishaan’s brother and Sara’s stepmother.  But I guess if it doesn’t bother the families, it shouldn’t bother me!  Plus, my impression is that Amrita has been the main caregiver and parent for Sara since the divorce, and she doesn’t have any bad associations with the Shahid Kapoor family.  And Ishaan’s mother wasn’t necessarily that involved in Shahid’s relationship with Kareena, my impression is that he was closer to his father at that point.  And it would be Amrita and Ishaan’s mothers who really made these decisions.

We got a glimpse of how this works, picking Karan to launch the kids, with the interviews Alia gave around Student of the Year.  Karan met with her parents, her mother mostly (her father worked too much to give it the full amount of attention warranted), worked out the contract and, more importantly, Alia’s on set situation with her mother.  Her mother was there on set most days, and when she wasn’t, Alia was driven to and from set, and all public appearances, by Varun.  This gave rise to rumors of a relationship between them, to which Varun responded, basically, “What relationship?  She was just a kid, it was my responsibility to get her home safely.”

I could be reading this wrong, but to me it sounded like Alia was only allowed to take this job, and give Karan the big “Pooja Bhatt’s little sister!” kind of name he wanted, after Karan agreed to make sure that every single person on set was jointly responsible for her safety and the success of her launch.  More than that, he basically adopted her.  And has continued in his responsibilities towards her, giving her 2 States, and then making sure she got a plum role in Kapoor and Sons, making her the centerpiece of the promotions (although she wasn’t really that big a part of the film).

(I mean, she was great in this movie, and I loved her character.  But she was also a 20 year old playing a 24 year old, acting opposite a 28 year old.  Even though it ultimately worked, it was clearly a casting decisions based more on really wanting to use Alia, than on what actually made sense for the character)

Karan is who I would choose to launch my star kid, if I had one.  He’s a great director and producer, really good at making sure his stars look good, and at building them up along with the film as part of the promotion process.  Plus, it sounds like he runs a good set, people like working with him, lots of happy photos and so on.  But also very organized and professional set.  Rohit Shetty, for instance, also seems to run a fun set, but a looser one.  There’s a lot of practical jokes and parties that you might not want your teenage child to have to deal with on their first job.

So now he has Ishaan and Sara.  I am sure, once again their mothers made most of the decisions here.  Ishaan’s mother is Neelima Azim, a professional dancer and occasional actress on television and movies.  She’s never had a big break out role, but she’s been around and in and out of the industry for years (hey!  She was in Zamaana Deewana!  I love that movie much more than I should).  She may never have made it as a star, but I am sure she knows enough to figure out a good contract and a good script for her son.  I am sure Ishaan’s father (a bit player actor) and his brother Shahid also gave their 2 cents, but his mother would be the one working out all the details and giving the final okay.  She’s the one Karan really has to convince.

And I am sure it is the same with Sara.  Even more so, probably!  Amrita has been orchestrating this launch for years, ever since she first started arranging for her daughter to be included in photo shoots and taking her to public events.  And Amrita herself has been a major play in the industry for 3 decades.  And Sara is a much bigger get than Ishaan, the daughter of Amrita Singh and Saif Ali Khan, granddaughter of Sharmila Tagore, stepdaughter of Kareena Kapoor, and someone the Indian public has watched grow up in front of them.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Karan has been wooing Amrita to get Sara’s launch film for the past 4 years.

(January 2012, she puts her on a magazine cover, and follows it up with a public appearance including posing for the paparazzi.  You don’t do that if your daughter is just “focusing on her studies”)

Which brings me to the new, even bigger, story!  Karan has been spotted going in and out, taking meetings with Sridevi.  If it’s been 4 years of waiting for Sara to launch, it’s been at least 5 waiting for Jhanvi to come out with her first film.  Sridevi’s been playing coy, talking about education and so on, but she’s also made her daughter front and center at loads of public appearances and interviews.  And Sridevi herself was a star at 14, no reason to think she would have a problem launching her daughter that young.

(November 2010, Jhanvi is 14, the same age her mother was when she made her adult debut)

So now Jhanvi, Sara, and Ishaan might be launched in the same movie, possibly Student of the Year 2.  Or maybe in two separate films.  Or 3 separate films!  But no matter what, every source is consistent that Karan will be the one launching them.

And this brings up the bigger question, if Karan has been working on getting the Sara and Jhanvi launches for who knows how long, does that mean he has other star kids he is grooming now for debuts in future?  I bet he does!  All those parties he throws, all that nice warm supportive “Uncle Karan” energy, I am sure Twinkle Khanna is making note of it when it comes time to launch Aarav, Suzanne Khan may have him in mind for ten years down the road when Hrehaan needs to make his debut, Kajol I am sure has already bookmarked him for Nyssa (she’s also said in interviews that she wants Nyssa to start working as a teenager, just like she and Ajay did, so that launch could happen any time now).  And then the three biggest gets, the holy grail of star children casting, if he can manage to convince Shweta Bachchan Nanda to let him launch Navya (Amitabh’s granddaughter and Raj Kapoor’s great-granddaughter), or get Gauri to trust him with launching Aryan and/or Suhaana.

Not that I think Karan is running some sort of massive long term con here!  I think he is a sincerely nice man who really enjoys his friendships with all these women, and really does like being an uncle to all their kids.  And I think the mothers are correct that his sets are the safest place for their children to have their launch.  I just think he is also a savvy enough businessman to see how he can turn these facts to his advantage.