"I was right at the centre of so much negativity."
Karan Johar has said that the trolling and criticism towards him in 2020 were “unfair”.
In 2020, Bollywood became embroiled in several controversies which surged following the tragic death of Sushant Singh Rajput.
Many began criticising leading Bollywood figures about certain topics such as nepotism.
Karan Johar found himself at the centre of it, with many calling him out for frequently casting stars who are related to established Bollywood celebrities.
The filmmaker has now addressed the trolling that came his way.
Speaking about the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise of anti-Bollywood speech, he said:
“Bollywood went through a really tough time with all the trolling and bashing that was happening.
“It was not a nice time. I, particularly, felt I was right at the centre of so much negativity.
“It was something I never envisaged, imagined. I felt there was so much being said and written that was unfair.”
Karan felt that the only way to come out of that negativity was to focus on work, which is what he did.
He continued: “Yet, one had to chin up and move on.
“Because eventually, I am accountable to my company, to my mum, my family. I just felt I had to be stronger and take it all in my stride.
“To be resilient was very important at that point of time. It was just so unnecessary and I am glad, we could go past that and focus on work. That’s what I did. I put all my thoughts on work zone.
“Maybe not everybody came out as a stronger human being, but I’d like to say there were many.”
While Karan says he managed to get through the trolling during that period, he is still a target of internet trolls.
Recently, he clarified claims that he favoured Janhvi Kapoor over Sara Ali Khan during an episode of Koffee With Karan.
During the episode, Karan called Janhvi “hot” while he questioned Sara about her “broken family”.
Addressing the allegations of bias, Karan said:
“I just want to tell everyone, in my defence, I love Sara.
“She is also working with us. She is doing two feature films with us, back to back.”
Karan went on to speak about the rapid-fire round.
He continued: “The Sara-Janhvi episode was the first thing we shot this season.
“After the rapid-fire round, which declared Janhvi the winner, there had been a technological error.
“Five minutes later, we had to admit that we had made a mistake while Janhvi was ecstatic.
“I began to describe her as hot out of remorse, but the entire exchange was deleted, giving the impression that I was being biased.”
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