When he was 12, he spent a summer lying naked in bed with the fan on, because that’s what he thought a “blow job” was.
Karan Johar penned a column for NDTV titled "I Don't Get Sex — And I'm No Longer Trying" in which he talks about why he doesn't "chase" sex anymore.
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He writes about being raised by conservative Punjabi parents who were too "shy" to ever have "the talk" which led him to have misguided notions about sex. Like this:
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Which led to this disaster:
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Johar writes about being a "fat kid" who grew up feeling unattractive. Which is why his first sexual encounter at the age of 26, ended up being this:
What do you get when you combine 3 actors, 3 actresses, one Karan Johar, and one Badshah, and ship them off to Umreeka? Some great Instagrams.
This year saw the start of The Dream Team tour hopping from one American town to the other, performing at their first ever Bollywood-based concerts, The Dream Tour.
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This year's contingent included Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt, Parineeti Chopra, Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Badshah and Karan Johar.
Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and Fawad Khan look ridiculously gorgeous in this signature KJo movie.
Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil stars Ranbir Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Anushka Sharma as the leads. And the makers just dropped a minute-and-a-half long teaser of the movie.
Forget “baar baar”, don’t even watch this once. It’s more stale than this joke.
Newbie Nitya Mehra's Baar Baar Dekho is a great-looking film. Why wouldn't it be, right? What with Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif's torsos starring as the leads. Now I don't wanna be mean or shallow, but I can't help that their abs are literally more expressive than their faces.
Having said that, they're not the real reason for the suckiness of this time-hopping saga about a girl and her douchecanoe lover. This script has less plot than an Aesop fable for seven-year-olds. Honestly, you should know you're in trouble when the best thing in your project is a promotional song about sunglasses.
Johar pulled no punches while indulging in some light-hearted roasting of his own movie, one of Bollywood's biggest financial and critical duds in recent memory.
Yesterday, All India Bakchod uploaded a joke about Pritam stealing “Bulleya”. Today, it was taken down, and Twitter immediately accused K-Jo of censoring the comedians. “We’ve said worse things about Karan Johar to Karan Johar’s face and he didn’t censor us,” Tanmay Bhat told BuzzFeed. “Why would he do it for a meme?”
“Bulleya”, a song from Karan Johar’s upcoming film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, released on September 16, and has since come under fire for lifting its opening riff from Papa Roach’s hit song “Last Resort”.
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Dharma Productions
Yesterday, comedy collective All India Bakchod uploaded this image to their social media accounts, and it has since been deleted.
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The joke is a play on the fact that the song's composer Pritam has been accused of copying other artists on numerous occasions.
All India Bakchod
Over the course of the day, the hashtag #AIBCensored flooded Twitter, swiftly rising to the top of India's trending topics.
“I was making up meetings and reasons for me to leave the city. I found comfort in sleeping on a long-haul flight, waking up in a city where I didn’t have to meet people… It passed because I was medicated, I went through psychology.”
In a tell-all interview with Barkha Dutt, Karan Johar opened up about his struggles with anxiety and depression.
"It is a recent kind of anxiety I have discovered about myself. At one point I thought I was having a cardiac arrest but my doctor said it was an anxiety attack... I stopped feeling excitement and happiness. There was lack of sleep and I was always on the edge...It was the darkest period of my life. I can’t explain the pain, anxiety, anguish. [I felt] helpless. Unhappy. Sad. Wanting to get onto a flight, always leaving the city… and walking the streets of other cities with nothing to say to anyone. Not even getting out of my bed from my hotel room sometimes. I wasn’t able to share this with anyone. I was making up meetings and reasons for me to leave the city. I found comfort in sleeping on a long-haul flight, waking up in a city where I didn’t have to meet people... It passed because I was medicated, I went through psychology. First it was much stronger and then we waned it off and just three months ago I stopped it all."
"I was essentially effeminate as a child. Those days I was called "pansy" and I remember my ears used to turn red with anger. Whenever I heard that word my instinct was to hit. It made me feel like I did not belong. It made me feel abnormal. It made me feel different from the others and I knew I was but it just made me very angry that why am I not conforming to what is considered 'normal'."
Johar confessed that he has stopped caring about conforming and thereby is a happier person now.
The Indian Motion Picture Producers Association just announced that “until normalcy returns” Pakistani artists are banned from working in Indian film and TV. Films that are already made will be exempted, including “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil”.
The Indian Motion Picture Producers Association just announced that Pakistani actors and technicians will be banned from working in India "till normalcy returns" between the nations.
This decision comes following attacks by Pakistani militants in Uri that led to the deaths of 18 Indian soldiers on September 18, and retaliation by India in the form of surgical strikes last night,
“Gay bashing and making fun of a mental illness is not funny.”
A lot of Bollywood celebrities have come out against the IMPPA ban on Pakistani artists from working in India, including Karan Johar.
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On September 29, following clashes between the Indian army and Pakistani militants, the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association announced that Pakistani artists will be banned from working in Indian film and TV “until normalcy returns”.
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Johar's next film, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, has been at the centre of the controversy as it stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.
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On Sunday night, he went on a rant against Johar and Khan on Twitter, referring to Johar as "Mrs Karan Johar Khan".
"But it was done with so much conviction, a mother has left eight letters, but kya likha hoga pehli, dusri chhitti may ki woh bachcha padh sake?" he went on to say.
“I refuse to live in the fear created by blind fanatics that you cannot have a conversation with your PM or question him or expect from him.”
The Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India recently announced that it won't release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in single screen theatres across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa, as it stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.
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NDTV reports that nearly 450 cinema owners have supported this decision. The decision comes in the wake of ongoing clashes between India and Pakistan post-Uri attacks.
Dharma Productions
"Today, the meeting of Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India took place and it was decided that keeping in mind the patriotic feelings and the national interest of our country, we request all our members and exhibitors to refrain from screening movies which have involvement of any Pakistani artist, technicians, directors, music directors etc. We are also in the process of requesting other associations connected with the film industry to support the sentiments in the best interest of our nation."
Kashyap, who was tweeting about the ban on Ae Dil Hai Mushkil clarified that he wasn’t asking the Prime Minister for an apology.
On October 16, Anurag Kashyap tweeted a series of questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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This came after the Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India recently announced that it won’t release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil in single screen theatres across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa, as it stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.
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Today, in a Facebook post, he ended up clarifying his tweets after it made national news.
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"I’m also well aware that the government did not cry “BAN" or demand that Pakistani artists be sent back. Just as I’m aware that the PM himself doesn’t censor my films. But we elected them and so it is their responsibility to protect us from bullies — media or political parties. And when the governing party's designated members don't respond in hours of crisis because they are second guessing the mood of the PM then I would rather talk straight to the PM himself. There was also sarcasm in the tweet that followed; ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ was for those mindless trollers who constantly ask for proof of your patriotism. Apparently thats all it takes. It was a jibe at them."
Since the series of tweets made headlines, Kashyap has alleged that journalists have been harassing him.
In a heartbreaking video, Johar talks about being hurt that ADHM has got him the “anti-national” label.
Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India announced that Ae Dil Hai Mushkil won't be released in single screen theatres across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa as it stars Fawad Khan.
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Dharma Productions
And after staying silent for two weeks, ADHM's director-producer Karan Johar released an official statement addressing the conversation around the movie:
“All I am doing is burning some ajwain to give an easy route for patriots to show their love for the country.”
The Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India recently announced that Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil won’t be released in single screen theatres in some states, as it stars Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.
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The decision will be enforced in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Goa, following threats of violence from protesters like the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, who have deemed movies with Pakistani artists "anti-national" because of tensions between the two nations.
Dharma Productions
Last evening, the controversy was fuelled further after Johar released a video stating that he would "not engage with talent" from Pakistan in the future, while pleading with the protesters to let his movie release smoothly.
Karan Johar shows us the journey of a man learning about love, friendship, and being a borderline abusive crybaby.
After all the controversy, Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, finally released this past weekend to mixed reviews. The movie is undeniably great looking, with talented actors such as Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma (playing leads Ayan and Alizeh) leading the show. The story, however, is more than a wee bit problematic, and not just because of how much it resembles literally every film Kapoor has starred in since his debut. (How many years can you keep coming of age, bro?)
They are probably this season’s most entertaining guests.
After some serious hype, Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh finally appeared together on tonight's Koffee With Karan episode.
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For those who don't know what the hype was about, here's some context: Ranbir Kapoor is Deepika Padukone's ex, who is now allegedly in a relationship with Ranveer Singh.
“Few women could break the shackles in mainstream cinema.”
In a recent interview with Firstpost, Karan Johar spoke at length about his latest release Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, the controversy surrounding it and the disparity between actors and actresses in Bollywood.
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When asked if the Hindi film industry is sexist in its treatment of women, on and off screen, Johar replied:
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When further questioned about why the industry works against women getting strong roles to build an audience over decades, Johar said:
The 100th episode of Koffee With Karan airs this weekend, featuring Salman Khan and his two brothers, Sohail and Arbaaz.
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Star World
Now, one of the games Johar likes to play is "Marry, Hookup, Kill", where he gives his guests some names and makes them choose which person they would assign to each of the options.
If you're wondering what prompted the change from "kill" to "befriend", it might have something to do with the fact that Khan was literally charged with killing a man in the infamous 2002 hit-and-run case.
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Khan was found guilty of all charges in May, 2015. Despite being acquitted on appeal later that year, Khan's credibility has taken quite a hit over the past decade.
Aamir Khan as dad will definitely make you want to call yours.
Aamir Khan was the guest on tonight's episode of Koffee With Karan. He came along with his Dangal co-stars/on-screen daughters, Sanya Malhotra and Fatima Sana Shaikh.
On this day in 2014, the Indian comedy scene changed forever.
On December 20, 2014, All India Bakchod teamed up with Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh, and Arjun Kapoor to put on AIB Knockout, an unprecedentedly out-there show for Indian audiences.
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They were joined by Aditi Mittal, Abish Mathew, Rajeev Masand, and Raghu Ram as fellow roasters. 4,000 people watched the event live in Mumbai, and millions of others watched it on YouTube.
AIB
However, a few days after they uploaded the show online, shit completely hit the fan. Court cases and threats were issued against the group for being too "vulgar and derogatory".
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While the outrage may have died, no one else has dared to attempt a no-holds-barred show on this scale since.
If I ever get into an arranged marriage, I want it to be like theirs.
Shahid Kapoor and his wife Mira Rajput were tonight's guests on Koffee With Karan and it was a big deal because it was Rajput's first time on a Bollywood chat show.
When Mira recalled putting her foot in her mouth as she slammed Bollywood's sexism the first time she met her future in-laws (who are also seasoned Bollywood actors).
Early this week, Meryl Streep took the stage at the 74th Golden Globe Awards to receive the Cecil B. Demille award for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment”: a lifetime achievement award.
Hollywood’s biggest stars watched her speak with rapt attention
Streep, considered one of the best actors in the world, chose not to speak of her own illustrious achievements, but to use the platform – the third-most watched awards show in the world – to deliver a stinging rebuke to the United States’ president-elect, Donald Trump.
Streep condemned Trump’s racist nationalism by speaking of diversity, pointing out the varied backgrounds of celebrated entertainers in the room.
Trump badmouths the press, singles out journalists he dislikes, and blacklists media outlets that give him negative coverage, so Streep called on the film industry to support freedom of journalists and the press.
Hollywood’s biggest stars watched her speak with rapt attention, several teary-eyed.
“Our stars” would never do this.
While the world applauded Streep’s no-holds-barred, anti-establishment stand, the Indian internet was quick to draw a contrast with Bollywood stars’ silences on national issues.
“Our stars” would never do this, came the unanimous verdict.
But can we blame them?
Freedom of expression exists, but so do adequate consequences.
The combination of a ruling party that thrives on (Trump-like) exclusionary nationalism and a big media ecosystem that’s increasingly under corporate control is rendering political debate inert in India.
Freedom of expression exists, sure, but if the views you express are counter to the interests of the government, so do adequate consequences.
Journalist Swati Chaturvedi’s recent book I Am a Trollalleged that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government directly coordinates social media attacks on opposition leaders, prominent journalists, and celebrities who voice anti-BJP (somehow equated with “anti-national”) opinions.
This is done via a large pool of volunteers who function as “trolls” on Facebook and Twitter, targeting liberal opinions and voices.
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Saadhavi Khosla, a former BJP volunteer who’s quoted extensively in the book, notes that after Aamir Khan made remarks on growing intolerance in India last year, lakhs of trolls were organised to abuse him on Twitter and to downgrade the Snapdeal app, of which he was brand ambassador. Within a couple of days, Snapdeal dropped Khan’s endorsement deal.
More than a year later, the hatred continues, with calls to boycott his latest film, Dangal, still visible on social media.
That same month, in an NDTV interview, Shah Rukh Khan lamented India’s “extreme” and “growing intolerance”.
Social media flooded, predictably, with calls to boycott his upcoming releases. There is enough evidence to suggest that the collections of his two subsequent releases, Dilwale (2015) and Fan (2016), were affected at least somewhat.
Pakistani artists in Bollywood became a hot-button issue after the Uri attacks.
Last month, presumably to avoid a similar fate for his upcoming Raees, Shah Rukh Khan met with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray to assure him that he won’t work with actors from Pakistan in the future. (Pakistani artists in Bollywood projects became a hot-button issue after September’s Uri attacks, which killed 17 Indian soldiers. Raees stars Mahira Khan, a popular Pakistani actress, making her Bollywood debut.)
Khan’s promise to Thackeray is reminiscent of Karan Johar’s now-infamous video from last October in which he wore the downcast look of a man speaking at gunpoint as he resolved not to work with “talent from the neighbouring country”.
Johar’s then-upcoming film Ae Dil Hai Mushkil featured Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, and Thackeray’s party had threatened to vandalise multiplexes exhibiting the film, a tactic pioneered by his uncle Balasaheb.
Between online mobs and threats of physical violence, right-leaning political parties have set a trend that pervades social media: celebrities facing boycott and threats for liberal stances that could be construed as anti-government, anti-Hindu, or anti-Modi (each of which seems increasingly interchangeable with the blanket “anti-national”).
Sometimes taking the stand results in no actual change.
Neha Dhupia was widely trolled for criticising Bombay’s flooded streets during the monsoon, Anushka Sharma for calling for a noise-free Diwali, Sonakshi Sinha for criticising the beef ban, Swara Bhaskar for her criticism of the clampdown on Jawaharlal Nehru University, her alma mater. The list is long.
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Even worse, sometimes taking the stand and weathering the storm of abuse results in no actual change. Back in 2015, filmmakers like Dibakar Banerjee and Anand Patwardhan returned their National Awards to protest against the government’s attempted conservative revamp of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune. Two years later, the issue remains unresolved, and a campus that was once a safe haven for progressive ideals recently played the national anthem in its in-campus main theatre for the first time in history.
Certain media outlets have been taking noticeably nationalist stances.
If organised efforts on social media weren’t enough, add sensationalist, corporate-controlled news media to the mix.
In recent times certain outlets have been taking noticeably nationalist stances using a new form of advocacy journalism, pioneered in India by one Mr Goswami, that invites members to participate in panel discussions whose outcomes have already been decided.
Am I imagining this? Let’s talk about one such TV debate, around the Uri attacks, held on the Hindi news channel IBN7 in early October.
Amongst the panelists was the late character actor Om Puri, who, while supporting the Narendra Modi government’s “surgical strikes” against incursions at the Line of Control in Kashmir, maintained he was against the idea of boycotting artistes from Pakistan.
Om Puri was against the idea of boycotting artistes from Pakistan.
Puri, who was one of our best-known crossover stars, had worked in a number of international films, including the Pakistani film Actor in Law (2016).
He agitatedly insisted on continuing to work with Pakistani artistes and warned against the dangers of turning the India-Pakistan conflict into “another Israel and Palestine”.
As the anchor, Sumit Awasthi, aggressively presented an emotional appeal, asking him to think about a young soldier who had died in the attacks, Puri exploded: “So, did I ask him to join the army?”
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His attempts to contextualise this comment were drowned out by the outraged cries of other panelists, which included former army chiefs and the anchor himself.
Puri's attempts to contextualise his comment were drowned out.
The clip spread all over social media and made its way to many outraged WhatsApp groups.
Massive backlash ensued, with Puri receiving the choicest abuse from online trolls as well as outright condemnation from the media (exhibit A: this dna article on the matter, its headline prefixed with “Shocking” and ending with an exclamation point).
Puri backtracked almost immediately, reiterating that his father was an army man and that he was proud of “our soldiers”. At a press conference a day later, he explained that those words came out of his mouth in the heat of the moment because of Awasthi’s constant interruptions.
“There is no justification for what I’ve said,” he said. “I’m not asking for forgiveness; I’m asking for punishment.”
Puri backtracked almost immediately.
We punished him all right. Puri passed away after a sudden heart attack last week, at the age of 66. Even as the country mourned his loss, tweets and Facebook comments branding him “scum” and “Pakistani dog” sat among the tributes.
Cherry-picked or not, these comments exist. People have read them. Many may have even silently agreed with them.
Actor Leonardo Dicaprio denounced the “politics of greed”.
Streep’s speech wasn’t the first time a Hollywood A-lister has taken a strong anti-establishment stand on a high-profile stage.
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, known for his efforts related to the environment, minced no words during his Best Actor Oscar acceptance speech last year, where he denounced the “politics of greed”.
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Alec Baldwin, having mastered an unflattering impression of the president-elect, deployed it on Saturday Night Live and social media through the elections to shed light on Trump’s various shortcomings.
Such stands exist in the context of the United States’ First Amendment.
Such stands exist in the context of the United States’ First Amendment, whose protections of the freedom of expressions are considered some of the broadest in the industrialised world.
Expecting the same from Indian celebrities, whose opinions exist in the opposite context of quickly-tightening freedoms and swiftly delivered punishments to business, reputation, and mental wellbeing, is a tough ask.
If our celebrities aren’t being more outspoken, it’s for one main reason: They don’t want the trouble.
They don’t want the death threats, or the losses, or for their families to be targeted and embarrassed.
Our celebrities don’t want the death threats or the losses.
Amitabh Bachchan has expressed this sentiment several times, citing the continued accusations over his involvement in the Bofors scandal — even after his name has been cleared — as the reason he chooses to stay silent on many issues.
I believe that the break-up of people who are liberal, conservative, and apolitical isn’t that different in Bollywood as it would be in any slightly diverse sample size of our population.
But in an environment like the one we live in today, where an ideological war being waged even on social media seems to have measurable real-world impact, it is important to realise that outspokenness needs support in order to sustain itself.
Outspokenness needs support to sustain itself.
Our celebrities have this power, yes, but truth be told they don’t owe us anything other than a good time at the movies or on TV shows. We criticise the celebrities who don’t say anything, assuming their shield of money and power can deflect any hatred directed their way. Sure, stars like Aamir and Shah Rukh Khan losing an endorsement deal or a few crores at the box-office is of little concern to us, but to what extent can money buy them relief from repeated, targeted abuse?
Public memory is short; news cycles, at this point in time, even shorter. If we want our celebrities to speak truth to power, we need to keep supporting the ones who do, long after topics have stopped trending and headlines have disappeared from our newsfeeds.
Sania Mirza and Farah Khan were tonight's guests on Koffee with Karan.
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And if you're wondering why, it's because they've been close friends for almost eight years and are quite fond of each other despite belonging to different industries.
For anyone who still insists Karan Johar isn’t working to educate India about sexuality…
Kangana Ranaut and Saif Ali Khan were last week's guests on Koffee With Karan. As part of the "Koffee shots" game, Karan Johar asked both actors if they've ever experimented sexually with anyone from the opposite gender.
And he really wanted everyone to know that he has "never been gay" (despite Karan trying his best to explain that it's not as black and white as Saif might think):