When Karan Johar spoke about his "feminine side"

Brut India

"My body language was made fun of." Karan Johar recalled the trolling he had to endure for years and revealed how he confided in Shah Rukh Khan.  📹: Yuvaa

Transcript

00:00The first person that made me feel that I was okay was Shah Rukh Khan.

00:06My body language was made fun of.

00:08I had to say the biggest thing about my personality and sexuality.

00:15I spoke to him first.

00:16I didn't feel like the movie industry was something that I would ever be a part of.

00:30Was there someone around you, whether it was a man or a woman or any other gender,

00:45that made you feel a little bit more comfortable in who you are or your body?

00:50The first person that made me feel that I was okay was Shah Rukh Khan.

00:58He was born and brought up in a very progressive environment.

01:01He'd come from theater.

01:02He had done, worked with all kinds of people.

01:06And I think my parents perhaps weren't being able to understand things.

01:12And I felt like the feminine side that I had that was coming out so strongly was only met

01:16with laughter or with, you know, being made fun of.

01:22And then when I grew a little older, people got a little more quiet about it, but I could

01:25tell that there were still there was a chitter-chatter around, you know, about maybe the way I walked

01:30or spoke or things, which I remember Shah Rukh Khan was the first kind of like a man

01:40that didn't make me feel lesser for some reason.

01:43He made me feel like an equal, not just as in person, but even I feel like he accepted

01:51what in those days were considered like being a pansy or being effeminate or walking funny

01:58and that he was just so cool about it, about everything.

02:01And he would have a lot of open chats with me.

02:04And I felt like even when I had to say the biggest thing about my personality and sexuality,

02:14I spoke to him first, because I felt like he would be that one influence that he was

02:20that one sense of support that even he hasn't realized that he has been to me.

02:25My feminine side has also lent itself to me being a feminist.

02:29I was always, I'm a proud feminist.

02:32I'm all about the women.

02:34And I, in fact, while men may mean many other things to me in this world, but I'm not, I'm

02:40not blind to their, not flaws, but their, I think their defects that society has given them.

02:46Ironically, I blame just the upbringing because I feel you've got to train your male child

02:53the way you would train your female child.

02:56Today, what you call gay or homo said with in a derogatory tone, it was called pansy

03:01in those days.

03:02And it was a word that, you know, literally had really pushed me into a shell because

03:06every time I went out, anytime I attempted to be on the field, maybe try and play football

03:11or basketball or cricket.

03:13Not that I was physically adept for it anyways, but also my body language was made fun of.

03:19So therefore I had gone into a shell, become so introverted that I didn't feel like the

03:23movie industry was something that I would ever be a part of.

03:26It was only when I met Adi again, we were childhood friends and told me that you've

03:30got to stop doing everything else.

03:32And I was on my way to France to do one year more of French.

03:36Adi stopped me two weeks before, and my father had paid up about 7 lakhs of rupees, which

03:40was a lot of money in 1993.

03:44And I said, I think you're mad.

03:45But he said, think about it.

03:47This is your calling.

03:48You've also helped me in the writing process of Dilwale Dulhania.

03:50You feel so attached to it.

03:53Next morning, much like the scene that Kajol has in Dilwale with Amrish Puri, where he

03:58says, when she says, I had that same scene, which is where I think Adi got that scene

04:05from, where I asked my father,

04:16And I went on to the sets of Dilwale Dulhania le jayenge, not knowing where my journey was going to lead.

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