Revision as of 19:28, 8 January 2017

Karan Johar
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Karan Johar is...

...an Indian filmmaker whose first independent film as a director, made at age 26, was the no.1 hit of 1998 and among the most successful films of the decade. His next film as a director was the no.2 hit of 2001. By then he was all of 29 and already one of the two or three most powerful moguls of Filmistan, a status that he has retained.

Personal details

Born: 25 May 1972, Bombay

Son of the A list filmmaker Yash Johar

Sexual orientation

Why Karan Johar still won't say these three words, Jan 08 2017 : The Times of India

Effeminate, pansy, homo... KJo has been called a lot of things in his life. In this exclusive excerpt from his biography titled The Unsuitable Boy, he talks about why he's keeping the closet door firmly shut

Karan Johar writes:

I lost my virginity at 26. Yes, it is true.

Why would I say this on record if it were not? It's not something I am proud of. It was in New York. Up till that point, I was sexually complete ly inexperienced. Even when I was a kid, I was very backward in this department... I still remember the first time someone told me about blow jobs. There was a kid in class who told me, `You know what a blow job is?' I said, `No, what is it? I've heard about it though.' He said, `You take off all your clothes and put your fan on high speed, and that's a blow job.' I said, `I can do that. What is the big deal in that?' And at 12, I remember, I removed my clothes and put my fan on full speed. Later, I told him about it and he said, `You did it!' I said, `Yeah, yeah, I did it three times.' He said, `You had three blow jobs yesterday!' I said, `Yeah, I had three blow jobs.'

While growing up, I was combating a hundred issues in my head. The thought of sex made me awkward; it almost rattled me. I thought, am I asexual? Why am I not feeling this? Why am I not doing anything? There was a lot of turbulence in my head. For me to address it, talk about it, discuss it, was a big no-no. I brushed it under the carpet all through the making of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. At that time, I was also very large and was grappling with my weight issues. I felt physically undesirable. Post Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, I had actually started working a little on my looks. I had lost some weight and had groomed myself a bit. Finally , I had developed a little spring in my step, a little confidence. That's when my first encounter happened, after the release of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, out of the country .

Today , people think that I have all the possible avenues to have all the sex in the world. But that's not who I am at all. To me, sex is a very , very personal and a very intimate feeling. It's not something that I can do casually , with just about anyone. I have to invest in it. ... I've always handled the rumours that came my way . There has been so much conjecture about my sexuality . For heaven's sake, for years there were rumours about Shah Rukh and me. And I was traumatized by it. I was on a show on a Hindi channel, and I was asked about Shah Rukh.`Yeh anokha rishta hai aap ka,' the interviewer said. He worded it in such a way that I got really angry . I said, `If I asked you if you are sleeping with your brother, how will you feel?' So he said, `What do you mean?

How can you ask me this question?' I said, `How could you ask me this question? For me, no matter what ups and downs Shah Rukh and I have been through, he is a father figure, an older brother to me. For me to look at him in that way or be subjected to those rumours was just ridiculous. But it didn't bother him. He said, `People talk nonsense, and if a man does not have an extramarital affair, he is supposed to be gay .'

I get scared of being spotted with any single man now because I think they are going to think that I am sleeping with him. I mean, firstly I have never ever talked about my orientation or sexuality because whether I am heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, it is my concern. I refuse to talk about it...I have not been brought up to talk about my sex life. I know I am the butt of many jokes, pun intended. I know how my sexuality is discussed. I have become like the poster boy of homosexuality in this country . But honestly , I have no problem with people saying what they want about me. Twitter has the most abuse. I wake up to at least 200 hate posts saying, `Get out, you're polluting our nation, you're dirtying society' or `Shove [IPC Section] 377 up your arse.'

I get this on a daily basis and I've learnt to laugh it off...One man came up to me once very cockily at Heathrow airport and said, `Is it true that you are a homo?' He was with his wife and child, and he asked me this. I looked at him and said, `Why , are you interested?' And he said, `Hey , what what what!' And I said, `Don't what what me.' And I walked out...

Some major sections of the English media are very sensitive in the way they approach this question. I'll be asked, `Oh, there is some conjecture about, you know, your sexuality .' Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is. I don't need to scream it out. And if I need to spell it out, I won't only because I live in a country where I could possibly be jailed for saying this. Which is why I Karan Johar will not say the three words that possibly everybody knows about me in any case. I've given hints. I've stood on a platform like AIB Roast, and I had half of the people supporting me and the other half dissing me for doing this. But at the end of the day , I did what I did, and I did it with my mother in the front row, and screw you if you have a problem with that. The only thing that bothered me was when people stood on the high moral ground and said, `Why was your mother in the front row?' But she's cool...Do you know that I tried to stop her from coming but she insisted? So the thing I told her was, `Mum, laugh. Do not squirm and do not be embarrassed for me because I'm not embarrassed for myself.'

If they're going to make jokes about my sexual orientation, I'm okay about it. I'm not embarrassed about who I am. I'm not apologetic. I'm embarrassed about the country I live in vis-à-vis where I come from in terms of my orientation.I'm sad, upset and disheartened with the trolling that happens on social media... At the end of the day , this whole homophobia is so disheartening and upsetting. And then they say , `Why don't you speak about your sexuality? You could be iconic in this country .' But I don't want to be iconic anywhere. I want to live my life. The reason I don't say it out aloud is simply that I don't want to be dealing with the FIRs. I'm very sorry . I have a job, I have a commitment to my company , to my people who work for me; there are over a hundred people that I'm answerable to. I'm not going to sit in the courts because of ridiculous, completely bigoted individuals who have no education, no intelligence, who go into some kind of rapture for publicity . I've reached a point in my life where I am not going to conform to what people think I should be saying or doing...So if you have an opinion about my sexuality , then screw you. I don't care.

Edited excerpts from An Unsuitable Boy by Karan Johar with Poonam Saxena with permission from Penguin India

Filmography

As a Director

1998 Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

2001 Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...

2006 Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

2010 My Name Is Khan

2012 Student of the Year

2013 Bombay Talkies

2016 Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

As a producer

1998 Duplicate (co-producer)

2003 Kal Ho Naa Ho

2005 Kaal (co-producer)

2008 Dostana

2009 Kurbaan

2009 Wake Up Sid

2010 I Hate Luv Storys

2010 We Are Family

2012 Agneepath

2012 Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu

2012 Student of the Year

2012 The Suite Life of Karan & Kabir (TV Series)

2013 Gippi

2013 Gori Tere Pyaar Mein

2013 The Lunchbox (co-producer)

2013 Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani

2014 Hasee Toh Phasee

2014 Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania

2014 Ungli

2014 2 States

2015 Phir Bhi Na Maane Badtameez Dil (TV Series)

2015 Shaandaar

2015 Brothers

2016 Ae Dil Hai Mushkil

2016 Baar Baar Dekho

2016 Dear Zindagi

2016 Kapoor & Sons

As a writer

1998 Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (dialogues,screenplay, story)

2001 Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (writer)

2003 Kal Ho Naa Ho (story, screenplay)

2006 Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (story, screenplay)

2009 Kurbaan (story)

2012 Student of the Year (writer)

2013 Bombay Talkies (screenplay)

2016 Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (dialogues, story, screenplay)

As a costume designer

Mr Johar designed costumes for Mr. Shahrukh Khan in the following films

1997 Dil To Pagal Hai

1998 Duplicate

2000 Mohabbatein

2004 Main Hoon Na

2004 Veer-Zaara

2007 Om Shanti Om