I Was A Very Feminine Child, Called A Pansy: Karan Johar Reflects On His Childhood

Karan Johar spoke about his gender politics, his upbringing, ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ and Shabana Azmi.

Karan Johar spoke about his gender politics, his upbringing, ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ and Shabana Azmi.

Source : IMDb

Karan Johar is a filmmaker-producer who has been working in Bollywood for many years now. Karan, who made his debut as a filmmaker with the iconic film 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' in 1998 ,recently sat down for an interaction with Punjabi comedian Lilly Singh. Johar spoke about his gender politics, his upbringing, ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ and Shabana Azmi.

Why was Karan Johar called 'feminine' in childhood?

When Lilly asked him about his childhood, Karan Johar admitted to not being the typical 'macho' kind of guy. "I was a very feminine child," he said. "I was teased about it. It was just something I had to deal with. There was a term in the 80s called 'pansy', boys who were effeminate were called that and it was deeply disturbing at that time. It used to make me sadder that time. "

Johar also admitted that he was quite hurt about the same as people would make fun of him, adding that he was not ‘macho like the other boys, or playing sport like them, or not as masculine like them.’

Karan Johar took vocal training to sound like a man

"I was told that I ran like a girl so I was told to stand on the side and play hopscotch with the girls,” Karan added.

Karan Johar added that during a public speaking class, he was told that he sounded like a girl. So, to add baritone in his voice, he underwent training for 3 years to bring that about. After all the effort he put into it, and after lying to his father for three years, who thought he was taking a computer class, Johar admitted that his voice did change for some reason. 

Karan also added that he changed the way he talks, he walks, he runs, and everything else in between for three years. However, Karan admitted that in this day and age, he would never tell his son to do that even if he was 'feminine' or 'was a certain way'. 

Saying that he underwent all this from 1991-1993, just to fit in the concept of masculinity that everyone believed in, he has now come a long way. The 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani' filmmaker admitted that it was all very wrong and hard, especially when he did not have an understanding of these things.