Karan Johar recently interviewed the cast of the upcoming movie Mr. & Mrs. Mahi, Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor and it certainly had people talking.
The 45-minute interview started off right away with Karan Johar talking about how Janhvi was being trolled so much and creating a narrative that people felt was portraying the actress in a very sympathetic light who is just working hard on her work and nothing else.
The audience also did not appreciate the way it handled Rajkummar Rao and many felt this was just another way for Johar to play a victim card for himself and also for the star kids of the Bollywood industry.
In recent times, there has been a rising wave of people calling out the opportunities that celebrity or star kids, mainly children of popular actors or ‘nepo kids’ as they are called and how unfair the Bollywood industry is toward outsiders.
People have also called out Johar’s Koffee With Karan segments as trying too hard to justify nepotism or straight-up denying that it exists. Even if it is admitted to, netizens have commented on how it is downplayed or said to be over-exaggerated with the reality not being the same.
People have also commented that Johar seems to be extra sensitive to the increasing criticism. This does beg the question, is Karan Johar becoming a bit too sensitive to any sort of censure or disapproval?
Parties Don’t Lead To Roles
One of the things that Karan Johar said was about how he doesn’t understand when actors claim that parties lead to roles.
He said, “I have recently seen some interviews of actors, I’m not mentioning names here, but sometimes they are using it as a tool to make a headline. Immensely successful people, who have given successful films are saying, ‘Oh, I felt victimised, I felt like an outsider, and I lost opportunities to a star kid’ or somebody saying that I didn’t attend a party that’s why I didn’t get a role. I have been to various parties myself, I have thrown them myself, I don’t know which party I actually offered a role to an actor and what’s this camps and circles, what the hell does this mean?”
However, people soon brought up an old interview of Kiara Advani from 2022 with Anupama Chopra where she talked about getting a call from Karan Johar himself for a role after attending a party.
The part starts with the 21:09 time stamp where Kiara is talking about how her own agency didn’t push her name toward Karan Johar, however, a party certainly worked its magic and eventually landed her a role in Johar’s Lust Stories segment.
She said, “but it took a random party, a random night for him to see me and call me the next day and say [“you know what I’m making this film and I really feel like, you know, there’s something about you, there’s this there’s this innocence that I want to tap into and would you like to come and hear it.”]”
Parineeti Chopra also went viral recently when in an interview with Bollywood Hungama said “I don’t go to dinners and lunches or attend parties where work opportunities are created in Bollywood or those roles are discussed. I want directors and producers to call me for my work because I am willing to work hard. I won a National Award for Ishaqzaade 10 years ago. I am still the same actor.”
Read More: Fake Friendly Fridays: KJo Opens Up About His Superpower Of Endorsing Nepotism
Trying To Get Gotcha Moment With Rajkummar Rao
Certain parts of the interview also felt as if they were trying to trap Rajkummar into a gotcha moment where maybe he would say that ‘no nepotism does not exist at all, all that stuff is bogus’ or something equally controversial.
Several people online commented a similar feeling as if Rao was being trapped into saying or giving something that could be used against him. One user commented, “Rajkumar answers were so positive and so good. He actually didn’t bite the bait or go in the direction Karan wanted him to. Applause to Rajkumar..incredible actor. His career will always be safe…He doesn’t need you Karan..keep that for Jhanvi and Khushi.”
Another wrote, “Hats off to rajkumar sitting in this conversation or you can call it gimmik of manupulatiom.”
Over Sympathising With Janhavi Kapoor
There was also an air of over-sympathising with Janhvi Kapoor throughout the interview with one user commenting, “45 mins video to drill into people’s head that Jahnvi is soo hardworking and get an outsider to say it so it sticks with the audience wah wah” and another saying, “Why is this like a therapy session for Jahnvi Kapoor. Sounds like an interview that has been done to make her feel better.”
One person wrote in the video’s comments section, “Not KJo going on and on about how outsiders are treated the same as insiders WHILE making the entire interview about Janhvi and sidelining Rajkumar. Gotta love the blatant favoritism on display with not a tinge of self awareness!”
Janhvi seemed to acknowledge her privilege in the industry and the part about her being trolled and overly sexualised is certainly valid.
Janhvi shared a traumatic incident she experienced saying, “The first time I felt sexualized by the media was when I was 12-13 years old. I attended an event with my mom and dad, and photos of me appeared online. Social media was just starting to gain traction, and I discovered my pictures on what seemed like a pornographic site. Boys at my school were looking at these photos and laughing.”
But the issue here is that this sexualisation and objectification doesn’t necessarily have to come from nepotism or her privileged background itself. This is an unfortunate part of our society that still considers women as mere objects and the male privilege of sexualising any woman not even caring about her age.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Bollywood Life, The Indian Express, India Today
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This post is tagged under: Karan Johar, Karan Johar nepotism, nepotism, bollywood nepotism, Rajkummar Rao, Janhvi Kapoor, bollywood, star kids, Karan Johar star kids, Karan Johar interview, Rajkummar Rao Janhvi Kapoor, nepo kids, nepo kids bollywood
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