Will happily welcome Kangana on my show, says Karan Johar

MUMBAI: Filmmaker Karan Johar said he would be happy to have Kangana Ranaut as a celebrity guest on his upcoming show "India’s Next Superstars".

Karan and Rohit Shetty will be seen as judges on "India's Next Superstars" to be aired on Star Plus from January 13 while Priyanka Chopra will be the first guest on the show.

When asked if Kangana Ranaut would be invited on the show, Karan said, "I am sure when Star Plus invites her we will be happy to have her. Our heart is big, our house is open to all. We will happily, lovingly and respectfully welcome her on the show." Karan and Kangana were engaged in a war of words over a remark on "nepotism" that made headlines last year.

The tagline of the show is "Na Khaandaan Na Sifaarish" and when asked whether he was looking for an opportunity to answer about nepotism, Karan said, "I don't think this tagline was an answer from my side to anything. Lot of people want to be part of the entertainment industry but it is difficult to find a platform. We are providing this platform to all those who are talented." Talking about the definition of superstardom, Karan said, "It is difficult to define superstar, if we knew the meaning then there would be millions of superstars. It's a feeling that an actor and audience has. It is organic." He added, "You don't know why you love Shah Rukh Khan or Amitabh Bachchan or Sridevi or Madhuri Dixit. It is something that they all bring on celluloid and the way they connect with the audience. They have an instant family connect with the audience." He said that the current generation had a lot of superstars like Varun Dhawan, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkummar Rao and Ayushmann Khurrana.

"Today there are lots of opportunities so we can't categorise who is at the top or in the top three. I hope we as filmmakers get an opportunity to work with all of them," Karan said.

The "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" director added that the audience were the biggest superstars.

Karan said he was thankful to the makers of this show to get him and director Rohit on board adding that he respects Rohit and shared a deep personal and professional bond with him.

"Our job as a director is to find talent and with this show we are just going to continue doing that. Our aim is to provide new talent to the industry," Karan said.

"There is a responsibility so we will be both a friend and a hard taskmaster. We might have to scold them at times when needed," Karan said.

Rohit said the main aim of the show was to show viewers budding talent and also the journey of becoming an actor.

The show will have 20 new faces, selected by casting director Mukesh Chhabra, who will be locked in a house and will have to go through various rounds of training including fitness, dance, acting and personality development.