Some of his peers may think that the saas-bahu soap operas that dominate Indian homes every evening are low-brow.

But Karan Johar begs to differ. The master filmmaker has organised a special screening of his Kajol-Kareena Kapoor-Arjun Rampal flick We Are Family, that is releasing worldwide on September 2, for the best known saas' (mothers-in-law) and the cattiest bahus (daughters-in-law) of the television fraternity.

And Karan is very clear about his motives for this exercise. Says he, "Television is the one medium that has in the recent past managed to tap the 'family' genre very effectively. For over a decade, the saas-bahu serials on prime time television have had the nation hooked. I have seen my own mother drop everything to watch her favourite family sagas. And, when Siddharth P Malhotra and I decided to make We Are Family, a film that revolves around a very unusual family situation, we decided that we should get the members from the most watched saas-bahu serials and hear what they think about our film. I also feel that the synergy between the big Indian television fraternity and the Indian film family can put things in the right perspective for us.''

Karan adds, "Everyone knows that WAF is adapted from the 1998- Hollywood film Step-Mom. But WAF is more than just an adaptation. We have 'Indianised' the script to suit our palate; and I'm very sure that the film will resonate with Indians across the globe.'' Looking back on family films in India, Karan recalls how this genre dominated the 90s and found huge success.

His own banner Dharma Productions produced super-hit family entertainers like Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham; and while family values and sentiments have been at the core of many of his productions, WAF he feels, will supersede most other films when it comes to dealing with family emotions. "The family is at the centre of everything we do. Our angst, emotions, sense of responsibility — all of it comes from our deep-rooted desire to be part of a family.

As a country, we are dominated by the joint family system and therefore, there is a deep resonance for anything connected to this subject. My own take as far as this genre goes is that you can never go wrong with family films, if you don't manipulate and just hit the right emotional."