How Karan Johar tackled hatred and negativity

Brut India

"I was called a movie mafia." Karan Johar revealed how he braved criticism and online hate with the right mindset.  : Sucharita Tyagi

Transcript

00:00Everyone has taken off their clothes now.

00:02What is it now?

00:04What to hide now?

00:05Who to fight now?

00:07I felt there was a lot of hate

00:08you know, that was coming my way.

00:10It had really, really, really taken a toll on my mom.

00:25I'm going to get a little bit personal, okay, Karan.

00:28In the last season of Coffee with Karan also,

00:30I felt like I saw you being more comfortable in your skin,

00:33who you are, more relaxed, more at ease,

00:36more self-deprecating humor.

00:38While it's great to see you at the age of 51

00:41being like, this is me.

00:42How did you know that you reached a point in your life

00:45where you were ready to bear your soul like this

00:47in this movie, on your show, in life?

00:49I realized I had nothing to lose anymore.

00:51Like in the last couple of years,

00:54and even before that,

00:55I realized that this is my life

00:57and who am I lying to about any part of my life?

01:00And then the last three years, Sucharita,

01:02where there was, I felt there was a lot of hate,

01:05you know, that was coming my way.

01:07And it had really, really, really taken a toll on my mom,

01:10you know, and I saw her literally crumble under that

01:14because she used to watch TV channels,

01:15you know, she was reading stuff online.

01:18She's quite happy like that in those zones.

01:20And she was watching TV anchors screaming and shouting

01:23and saying the most like god-awful things about me,

01:26you know, demonizing me for some reason.

01:28And then there were people who were like,

01:30kind of writing the same on Twitter

01:32and other social media platforms.

01:33And all I had to be was resilient at that time

01:37because I had to be strong for my own mom and for myself.

01:41But then, you know, you feel kind of naked

01:43after all of that has happened.

01:44You feel like,

01:45abhi toh kapde utaar diye sabne.

01:47Abhi kya hai?

01:50Abhi kya chhupana?

01:51Ab kisse ladna?

01:52Abhi now everyone anyway has kind of like

01:55stormed into your life, made assumptions,

01:58made presumptions.

01:58They don't know the person I am.

02:00They may never.

02:00And they just made this perception of this mafia,

02:05whatever they keep talking about.

02:06And I'm like, yeah,

02:07they don't know how a producer on a daily basis

02:10is trying to get his or her film cast.

02:12No matter which position you're in,

02:14you're calling five actors.

02:15Sometimes all five say no.

02:16Then you're making some, you're managing a budget.

02:19Just because you have perceived to be ahead of a studio

02:22doesn't mean you don't have your own like daily anxieties.

02:25And you have your own personal mental health issues,

02:27which nobody ever knows about.

02:29Because I was in that feeling of liberation,

02:31in any case, I felt like now I'm not going to pretend anymore.

02:34In our cinema, we tend to pretend.

02:36We pretend a value system sometimes.

02:38So we pretend like,

02:40we pretend a moment that is what you think

02:42an audience will like.

02:43But when Ranveer Singh and Totara H.O. 3

02:46break into Dola Re Dola,

02:47that's my inner feeling.

02:48Like, you know,

02:49it's like I want to do that dance somewhere.

02:52I probably will also, doing me.

02:55And I'm like, there's going to be no shame on that

02:58because like, I feel like doing Dola Re Dola right now.

03:01So that is why I think a lot of the abandon

03:04and a lot of the,

03:06I would say freedom of thought

03:09came from years

03:12of absorbing the negativity

03:15and still holding on to my individuality.

03:18So when you speak about the film's individuality,

03:20it comes from actually,

03:23it just comes from a place of resilience.

03:25And it comes from a place of like,

03:26now I don't want to pretend anymore

03:28because I don't have to.

03:30I'm like, if they think the cat is out of the bag

03:32and they have control on that cat and that bag,

03:35that's their problem.

03:36I am going to be who I am

03:37and I'm not going to give a damn.

Category

Transcript

Recommended