After ‘Showtime’, Karan Johar and Hotstar to team up for another show

Gaurav Banerjee, Head - Content, Disney+Hotstar and HSM Entertainment Network, Disney Star, was present during unveiling of trailer of their upcoming show, ‘Showtime’. In a media interaction Gaurav Banerjee revealed that he is set to collaborate with Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment.

Hotstar and Karan Johar are coming together for the first time for fiction show. Elaborating on it, Banerjee said, “He is a master of fiction. This has been a multiverse of relationships with Karan and Dharma. It has been running for a really long time. I always had a sneaky feeling that a lot of ‘Koffee with Karan’ episodes are fictional. But we have a really amazing energy with Dharmatic and Apoorva Mehta and the entire team. We are very, very excited.”

Banerjee hinted at another interesting project which is in the pipeline and said, “There is a show that we are launching. We are very pumped and excited about it. But today is not the time to talk about that. Dhramatic and Hotstar relationship starts with ‘Koffee with Karan’ and builds to ‘Showtime’ today, there is one more series and lot more we are doing together. In the world of films, it is a big partnership, which we are proud of, but today is not the time to talk about it.”

On doing ‘Showtime’, Banerjee said, “This show is not only about underbelly of Bollywood, it is a celebration of Bollywood.”

Banerjee thinks that Karan Johar has a difficult job to do, adding, “Every time we have gone on Twitter or I have gone on Twitter in the last three years, this theme - what is so controversial about Bollywood - is at centerstage. Everyone is interested in who is working in Bollywood and why they are the right people to be doing this role or not doing this role. People like Karan and Apoorva have among the most difficult jobs in the country along with the National selectors. I take the decision to hire people in the team, but nobody gets the amount of scrutiny and pressure that they face. After having worked with Karan for so many years, one thing I know about hin is that he is a sport. He is a man who can take a joke on himself. When he thought of this idea, which has in many ways animated so much of commentaries on social media for such a long time, we at Hotstar thought that it is a very exciting drama. We hope all of you will have fun ride.”

‘Showtime’ is going to premiere on Hotstar on March 8 and stars Emraan Hashmi, Rajeev Khandelwal, Naseeruddin Shah, Mouni Roy, and Shriya Saran, among others.