Mumbai, February 10
Filmmaker Karan Johar says his upcoming Netflix series 'The Fame Game' goes "behind the scenes" of the glamour world, where movie stars ride on immense popularity but also harbour secrets.
The series features Madhuri Dixit, playing the role of Anamika Anand, a Bollywood icon who goes missing, kick-starting a police investigation that slowly unravels facets of her life and stardom.
During the virtual trailer launch of the family drama thriller, Johar, who has backed the project through his Dharmatic Entertainment, said fans are often not aware of the "story" behind the lives of movie stars.
Watch the trailer here:
"'The Fame Game' is much more than what it appears to be. There's so much glamour, glitter and grandeur attached to the life of a movie star but what happens behind the scenes? Behind the life of every single movie star, there lies a story that you don't know.
"There lies a mystery you're not aware of, there lies secrets that perhaps no one in the world knows," he said.
Filmmaker Sri Rao serves as the show-runner and writer of 'The Fame Game' while Bejoy Nambiar and Karishma Kohli are attached as directors.
Johar said though the show is about a fictional star Anamika Anand, the themes it explores are applicable to "every single movie star in the world".
He added that the series is about the "games" a famous personality plays.
"There's a face they show to the world and there's a face they only show to their family or perhaps to no one. That's what 'The Fame Game' is about. It's about the fame but also the game a famous person plays with an audience and the secrets they don't reveal," he added.
Rao said what makes the show "unique" is that it ultimately comes back to the story of one family, even though the backdrop is "glamorous and glitzy".
"It is set against the world of Bollywood with this iconic actress at the centre of it, played by the equally iconic Madhuri Dixit, but at the core, it is a relatable story about a family. It is about a husband, wife, children and the relationship between them.
"Although you have seen stories about Bollywood before, I don't think you have seen it in this way. You can see yourself in all these characters, even though they are so much larger than life," he added.
Madhuri Dixit shared the trailer on her Instagram handle and wrote, "Suna tha, stardom ek pal mein gayab ho sakti hai par ek superstar hi gayab ho jaye, woh kabhi nahi suna tha. Apni "perfect" life ki kahani batane aa rahi hai Anamika Anand bahut jald. Watch out for 'The Fame Game' series premiering 25th February, only on Netflix. #TheFameGame #TheFameGameOnNetflix."
Nambiar, known for movies such as 'Shaitan', 'David' and 'Taish', said the series offered a new experience to him as he had never co-directed a show before.
He added that he boarded the project with a "lot of anxiety", unsure how he would co-direct the series with Kohli, who he had not met at the time.
"The process was so overwhelming and beautiful. I found a great friend in my co-director Karishma. All my fears were kept aside, I had a great time working with her. Then, of course, to work with a legend like Madhuri. She had once come to my school for a shoot but my principal didn't let me bunk class.
"All of us were trying to take the window seat so that we could see her shoot. So, from seeing her through the window to now seeing her in front of me and directing her, it has been a massive dream come true," the director said.
Kohli said with co-directing a project, "egos" can come in but with Nambiar, that wasn't the case.
"It was coming from a space of pure love. We were making one thing together. It was not his, or mine, it was collective. As a crew we came beautifully together, it was an extremely special journey," she added.
'The Fame Game' also stars Sanjay Kapoor, Manav Kaul, Lakshvir Saran, Suhasini Muley and Muskkaan Jaferi.
Produced by Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Somen Mishra, Dharmatic Entertainment the series will premiere on Netflix on February 25. PTI
