Two things have remained constant in this season of Koffee With Karan–a parade of the usual suspects with no element of surprise, and Johar talking about his victimisation in the whole nepotism debate that surfaced after the death of Sushant Singh Rajput in 2020. In nearly every episode, the filmmaker is seen harping about how the criticism affected his work and mental health.
It’s indisputable that Johar fell victim to cyberbullying and even had to delete his X account due to the barrage of hate that was thrown at him. But it’s also a fact that the filmmaker has mostly only launched star kids and continues to bet on them, no matter how the films perform at the box office. They are also regulars on his talk show, season after season.
One would expect Johar to have wised up over the years. But the filmmaker has remained unapologetic, signing up star kids for more movies, and getting his guests to talk about nepotism (obviously in a way that doesn’t make him look bad). Everyone else is to blame, except for himself or the industry.
Shifting the blame
Of course, it was a Koffee With Karan episode where it all started, back in February 2017. Johar decided to break the norm and invited Kangana Ranaut, a Bollywood darling at the time in terms of performance and box office track record.
Ranaut, however, pulled the rug under Johar’s feet when she said that the filmmaker was the face of nepotism in the industry. That incident started not just the nepotism debate but also a distasteful smear campaign against Ranaut, with Varun Dhawan, Saif Ali Khan, and Johar himself making fun of the actor at the IIFA Awards in July that year.
But after laying low for some time, Johar is now out, trying to turn the question around—and his target is the media. In his season 8 episode, he asked Sunny and Bobby Deol to comment on nepotism. “It is stupid,” said Sunny Deol, while Karan immediately joined in and said, “It is a lot of empty noise.” Almost as if that was the validation Johar was desperately seeking.
“You make them social media stars. And then you blame people for signing them,” added Johar, clearly shifting the blame from himself and other filmmakers. And Zoya Akhtar is on the same page too — concerning her latest film The Archies, which features star kids such as Suhana Khan and Agastya Nanda, she said the media is to blame for nepotism.
Johar also repeatedly keeps drawing attention to criticism on social media. No matter how much he says “I’m over it”, “it doesn’t bother me anymore”, he can’t stop talking about it. “I went through [all] that. If you were a lone warrior, it is difficult,” said Johar about the uproar that followed Rajput’s death, which, Ranaut said, was a result of rampant nepotism in Bollywood. The irony is, Johar is the last person who is a “lone warrior”. He is a part of every project, party, and wedding that happens in Bollywood.
Every time anyone talks about their struggles, Johar has an incident to share.
Nostalgia and nepotism
Johar also recalled the ‘good ol’ days’ of the ’90s in the episode with Rani Mukerji and Kajol. They discussed Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), and both actors waxed eloquent about how amazing a debut director Johar was. Nepotism whitewashed, with a pinch of nostalgia.
More validation in the episode with Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgn, in which Johar again spoke about nepotism. “The struggle is the same for everyone, and you have to work hard,” replied Devgn.
In the episode with the star kids, Ananya Pandey and Sara Ali Khan, Johar brought up the incident where Ananya was shut down by Siddhant Chaturvedi over her ‘struggles’ at the actors’ roundtable in 2019. “Their struggles begin where our dreams are fulfilled,” Chaturvedi had remarked. On Koffee With Karan, though, the message was obvious: This is how poorly star kids are treated by the media and internet.
Johar’s attempt to dilute the nepotism debate is a masterclass in PR. It is no longer about the star kids anymore, but all about ‘I, me and myself’, and he has gotten away with it.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)