"My body language was made fun of." Karan Johar recalled the trolling he had to endure for years and revealed how he confided in Shah Rukh Khan.
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00:00The first person that made me feel that I was okay was Shah Rukh Khan.
00:06My body language was made fun of.
00:08I had to say the biggest thing about my personality and sexuality.
00:15I spoke to him first.
00:16I didn't feel like the movie industry was something that I would ever be a part of.
00:30Was there someone around you, whether it was a man or a woman or any other gender,
00:45that made you feel a little bit more comfortable in who you are or your body?
00:50The first person that made me feel that I was okay was Shah Rukh Khan.
00:58He was born and brought up in a very progressive environment.
01:01He'd come from theater.
01:02He had done, worked with all kinds of people.
01:06And I think my parents perhaps weren't being able to understand things.
01:12And I felt like the feminine side that I had that was coming out so strongly was only met
01:16with laughter or with, you know, being made fun of.
01:22And then when I grew a little older, people got a little more quiet about it, but I could
01:25tell that there were still there was a chitter-chatter around, you know, about maybe the way I walked
01:30or spoke or things, which I remember Shah Rukh Khan was the first kind of like a man
01:40that didn't make me feel lesser for some reason.
01:43He made me feel like an equal, not just as in person, but even I feel like he accepted
01:51what in those days were considered like being a pansy or being effeminate or walking funny
01:58and that he was just so cool about it, about everything.
02:01And he would have a lot of open chats with me.
02:04And I felt like even when I had to say the biggest thing about my personality and sexuality,
02:14I spoke to him first, because I felt like he would be that one influence that he was
02:20that one sense of support that even he hasn't realized that he has been to me.
02:25My feminine side has also lent itself to me being a feminist.
02:29I was always, I'm a proud feminist.
02:32I'm all about the women.
02:34And I, in fact, while men may mean many other things to me in this world, but I'm not, I'm
02:40not blind to their, not flaws, but their, I think their defects that society has given them.
02:46Ironically, I blame just the upbringing because I feel you've got to train your male child
02:53the way you would train your female child.
02:56Today, what you call gay or homo said with in a derogatory tone, it was called pansy
03:01in those days.
03:02And it was a word that, you know, literally had really pushed me into a shell because
03:06every time I went out, anytime I attempted to be on the field, maybe try and play football
03:11or basketball or cricket.
03:13Not that I was physically adept for it anyways, but also my body language was made fun of.
03:19So therefore I had gone into a shell, become so introverted that I didn't feel like the
03:23movie industry was something that I would ever be a part of.
03:26It was only when I met Adi again, we were childhood friends and told me that you've
03:30got to stop doing everything else.
03:32And I was on my way to France to do one year more of French.
03:36Adi stopped me two weeks before, and my father had paid up about 7 lakhs of rupees, which
03:40was a lot of money in 1993.
03:44And I said, I think you're mad.
03:45But he said, think about it.
03:47This is your calling.
03:48You've also helped me in the writing process of Dilwale Dulhania.
03:50You feel so attached to it.
03:53Next morning, much like the scene that Kajol has in Dilwale with Amrish Puri, where he
03:58says, when she says, I had that same scene, which is where I think Adi got that scene
04:05from, where I asked my father,
04:16And I went on to the sets of Dilwale Dulhania le jayenge, not knowing where my journey was going to lead.