Karan Johar opens up on feeling different from others: I was more feminine

Updated On: 25 July, 2025 02:25 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent

Karan Johar opened up about his emotional struggles during childhood, particularly feeling isolated and different due to being labelled as "feminine", he even shared about being ragged at school

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Karan Johar

Karan Johar, who is presently promoting `Dhadak 2,` recently opened up about his childhood and the emotional struggles he had as he was labelled as `feminine`. Johar admitted that he often felt different from other children and struggled to achieve acceptance among his peers. In a candid conversation with Jay Shetty, Karan detailed his childhood.

Karan opens up on feeling isolated and wanting to belong

Karan Johar opens up about his childhood and wanting to feel included, "The first thing I wanted to do was just be. I wanted to belong. That`s the first thing I want to do. I just felt very different from all the other boys my age, all the other kids my age. I think I was just in those days back in the 80s, I didn`t know how to describe my headspace because I didn`t understand what I was. I felt I was different. I felt I was different from the others, and I wasn`t able to kind of articulate it to myself, and those were not days that you know we could get any kind of counselling, any kind of you know visit to somebody who could guide you, help you nurture you in that way. Even your parents were giving you all the love, like I was the only child, so I got a lot of love, but I knew I was very different. I was told I was, you know, more feminine than I should be. I walked differently. I ran differently. I spoke differently. My choices in life, my hobbies in life, were different."

Karan got candid about his inclination towards Hindi Cinema and music, "I liked to watch a lot of Hindi movies. A lot of kids in my neighbourhood. We grew up in an elite neighbourhood called Malabar Hill. And like nobody really watched Hindi cinema at that time, Indian cinema. I was watching all those movies and dancing to those songs in my room. And boys and girls my age were like listening to their parents` favourites, like Abba, or they were getting to like Wham, George Michael Madonna. It was a breakthrough of like you know, western pop artists, and you know I was not really getting into I was listening to Lata Mangeshkar and Kishor Kumar and Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi, and everything about me was different.

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