Karan Johar says Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani is an expression of his pent-up anger: ‘This film is me rebelling’

 

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He continued, “I sang those songs loudly in a tone-deaf voice. I danced to those songs in my room and my father would think it was great and he would actually ask me to dance in front of his friends. He thought I was expressing myself. He did not realise that I was being feminine or being unusual or different from the other boys. The other kids were not exactly welcoming to this kind of personality.”

The director said that he is unapologetic for what he stands for and believes in, and added, “In those days, there was no term that was about your sexual orientation. There was this word ‘pansy’, and it got stuck in my head. Then I was overweight. I seek refuge in food because I could not handle this term that was thrown at me when I went out and met boys, girls from other schools. It was traumatising. I was raised to be this kind of person by my parents and I don’t want to apologise for it to anybody. And I think this film is a expression of that.”

He added, “This film is a lot of me rebelling, not only my childhood, but there is a latent anger that you build with what has happened in the last couple of years and then you have a way of saying that ‘nothing else matters  but your individuality.’”

Karan also discussed the snake emoji that often appears on social media posts involving him, even though he is no longer active on Twitter. He mentioned that people sometimes leave negative comments on his posts, but he has chosen to move past this sort of trolling.

He said, “If this film had failed, there would have been a million fingers pointing out at you saying, ‘see there is an impact.’ Now you realise, it is all virtual and it means nothing. But you have to be strong enough to not get affected by it.”