Indian Filmmaker Karan Johar opened up on his struggles with body image in a chat with actress Twinkle Khanna on her show, Tweak India. The filmmaker said that he still hasn’t accepted his body and wears baggy clothes owing to his insecurities. He also shared that this started after he was called ‘pansy’ during his academic years. Pansy is a slang term which means a weak or effeminate man or boy. It is mainly used as a term of abuse and unkind criticism.
Karan added on the show that people called him ‘pansy from Green Lawns High School’ or ‘pansy from HR College.’“That wasn’t my f*****g identity you know and that’s what it had become. When I entered college from school I realised I had to wear ‘manly clothes.’ I cannot wear stuff that I want to wear. I’ll wear check shirts, jeans and sneakers so that I can fit in. I hope and pray that kids today don’t ever have to go through what we went through at that time. I hope parents are more understanding,” he shared.
Karan said that he still cannot wear tight-fitting clothes because he believes he doesn’t have the physique for them. He also shared that being called ‘pansy’ haunted him for a long time and he still hasn’t been able to make peace with it.
“I have a big problem with fitted clothes because even if there’s a small roll, my mind will immediately go to that. I still look all around me when I enter the room. Now I have made it a thing where I wear these oversized clothes, but I actually can’t bear any tight thing, a t-shirt, shirt bothers me to no end,” the film director said on the show.
On the work front, the last full-length feature film directed by Karan was Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, which was released back in 2016. The film starred Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Fawad Khan in pivotal roles. He also directed a segment in the 2020 Horror-anthology film, Ghost Stories, which was released on Netflix.
He will be back next year with his directional Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani, which is reported to be released on April 28, 2023. The movie stars Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan and Shabana Azmi in pivotal roles.