In my next life, please make me an underdog: Karan Johar

You have talked about how you didn’t fit in and had trouble making friends in your growing-up years. All that changed when you won an inter-school debate competition. How did you deal with that phase of your life?

I didn’t do what was expected of me as a boy. I was not the most ‘masculine’, ‘macho’ person. I had tapped into my feminine side and women felt at ease with me. I had been at the receiving end of comments like ‘why are you walking like a girl’, or ‘running like one’. Such things scar you. I was told that my hand movements were funny and that I had a squeak in my voice. All this can put you in a box and that box can be very claustrophobic. I could either pity myself or break away from it. It was difficult, but it was very heartening to have the parents that I did. Their support and their modern outlook made me feel that I always belonged, that I could chase any career that I wanted.

Your father was very indulgent and your mom was the strict one. Now that you have Yash and Ruhi, do you have a parenting plan in place?

Everybody thinks that I am going to spoil my children but that’s not true. Contrary to what people think, I was not a spoilt brat. My mother gave me a very strong value system, I was very scared of her. I was very aware of the struggles that my family went through.

You were a quiet child.

Yes, I was very quiet. I would quietly absorb all that happened around me, like a sponge.

You are more than making up for it now.

Totally. People won’t believe me but I am a reluctant extrovert. I play that part as I think that’s expected of me. But, I like my own silence and the company of my thoughts. I don’t always want to be the life of a party now.

The film industry is notorious for being insular.

I am not as insular as the rest of them. I am quite open to people from all walks of life. I don’t live in a bubble. I believe there are members of the film fraternity who do that and that leads to delusion. I am not delusional and I want to be aware of my strengths and weaknesses. My strengths are now a part of me but my weaknesses — that’s what I want to focus on. That’s the reason I don’t have yes-men around me.

Speaking of yes-men and your company, the choices that you have made as a producer — Lunchbox and Kapoor and Sons — are far braver than the films that you direct. Why is that?

That’s not true. I just don’t get credit for the chances that I have taken. No one in my position has made a film on infidelity, or a film on a religion that’s unfairly targeted, or a film made about unrequited love with no happy ending. I think I am very brave, it’s just that I get glossed over. People just think it’s rich people having problems — it’s a first world thing. Dude, you don’t need third world problems to connect cinematically. I feel sometimes I am unfairly targeted as a filmmaker. I made My Name is Khan and it did well but I didn’t get the kind of credit the film deserved. Made by anyone else, it would have been applauded. But that’s because I am not an underdog and no allowances are made to people who are not underdogs.

Shall we talk about the current favourite word in Bollywood, nepotism.

Yes. Sure, talk about it. Join the gang.There is a gang?

Can I ask a question? How come this was never discussed even two years ago? So much focus on one interview that nepotism becomes the national word. Good, bad or indifferent — it’s all about access sometimes. I am all about launching someone who is exceptionally talented. Fifteen directors who are not from the film industry have been launched by Dharma Productions. But I still fend questions on nepotism. I understand that there are people who feel that it’s easy for star kids, but there is a flip side.

I feel people from the industry face a bigger challenge to stand up to the standards set by their successful mothers and fathers. Speak to Amitabh Bachchan’s son , Shah Rukh’s son, or Sridevi’s daughter and they will tell you it’s not easy. The only thing that they have is access. People say that you launched Alia because she is Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter but the fact is that she has given seven back-to-back hits and no one will give me credit for spotting her talent. God, in my next life, please make me an underdog.