Karan Johar entered our lives as Shah Rukh Khan’s chubby, dorky buddy in real and reel (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge) life in 90s. It was Shah Rukh Khan, the charming devil in DDLJ that stole the show and gave Karan a royal ignore. But after three years, everything changed...
After his inconsequential film debut, Karan switched roles and donned the director’s hat and gave not just blockbuster hits from Kuch Kuch hota Hai to Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, but also launched three of the most successful actors (Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra, and Varun Dhawan) in Student of the Year.
But something happened in these 21 years. Karan matured – the change wasn’t drastic, but it was evident enough for us to notice.
Karan opened the pandora’s box last year when he admitted to having gone wrong with his portrayal of Kajol’s character Anjali in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH). I’m pretty sure it was at that very moment, that we all had a typical Kajol’s reaction, “I don’t like youuu!”
Guys, let’s be honest, KKHH was one of our favourite childhood films and Karan’s pet project (he wrote the film when he was 24) but we have to admit (though very late) that it was a problematic film. Kudos to Karan for realising that it was a silly film. Well Karan, everyone makes mistakes but not everyone admits their mistake and very few of them earn crores of rupees.
It seems like the year of candid confessions by Karan. The director-cum-actor-producer-cum-fashion designer-talk show host-cum-mentor, (almost) came out of the closet. Though he still didn’t openly say the G-word, but did talk about his sexual orientation in a very mature and subtle way.
Remember, this is the same Karan who brought same sex relationship to the 70mm screen (Kal Ho Naa Ho, 2003; Dostana, 2008) for which he could be applauded but unfortunately, Karan too fell into Bollywood’s gay stereotyping propaganda. But it was Kapoor and Sons that was the game changer not just for gay men but for mainstream cinema. What worked for Kapoor and Sons that didn’t quite click in Kal Ho Naa Ho or Dostana was the fact that Karan finally portrayed homosexuality as normal. A homosexual Rahul Kapoor aka Fawad Khan is as troubled as his other family members. It was a dysfunctional family where everything seemed perfectly normal. Karan realised it was time to talk about the elephant in the room in a sensible way.
Karan even brought homosexuality into the chat room without making it seem like a big deal.
Karan won all the Box Office battles. He successfully got the cash register ringing but it was his nearly two-year-long battle with depression that made his life hell. But that didn’t stop the man, he went ahead and directed one of his most mature films of his career Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, spoke about his mental illness in public and came out a winner.
But winners can’t have it all. Even in the midst of his personal battle, he lost out on his close friendship with Kajol, his lucky mascot. Karan, the pundit of love and friendship, probably got the script of his dosti of 25 years wrong. In short, the fallout happened because of her husband Ajay Devgn, and Kajol got stuck between pati parmeshwar and best friend.
The war of words between Ajay Devgn and Karan reached its final chapter when The Unsuitable Boy spoke about his dosti with Kajol in his latest book. He left no stone unturned and told the world just like the entire collage announced in KKHH... “ki Karan aur Kajol ka jhagda hogaya!
However, what we liked was that Karan never blamed Kajol for the fallout despite him losing all the ‘sukoon’ in their dosti!
Don’t know about others but this Karan Johar 2.0 is kinda nice and all grown up! Here’s to the new you. Cheers!
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