Filmmaker Karan Johar recently opened up about being judged during his childhood. He shared that he attended voice training classes for three years after being told he sounded like a girl. Karan admitted that he kept this entire experience a secret from his father, Yash Johar, because he felt ashamed.
Appearing on Raj Shamani's podcast, the director shared that he had attended a public speaking class, where the teachers told him after the session, 'Aapko duniya mein bahut problem hogi, kyunki aapki awaaz ladki jaisi hai. Toh ismein aap baritone lao. Uske liye hum aapko voice exercises denge.' As a result, he took voice training classes to develop a baritone, so he could sound like a man.
Karan added, "Do saal tak main woh classes gaya, apni awaaz mein baritone laa saku, so I could sound like a man. Do-teen saal maine woh kiya. Papa ko main kehta tha, 'Main computer classes ja raha hoon,' kyunki I was very shy to tell him. Teen saal baad meri awaaz mein baritone aaya. They also taught me how to walk, how to become more masculine."
Karan said that today he would not advise anyone to go through such experiences and would encourage everyone to be themselves and not change for anyone.
The Kuch Kuch Hota Hai director added, "Woh wakht alag tha, samaj aur soch alag thi. Kabhi kisi ne mera haath pakad ke nahi kaha, 'Karan, you are good the way you are.' But I was told, 'Please yeh seekhlo, warna tum nahi face kar paayenge log ko, tumhe accept nahi karenge.'
Karan shared that three years after taking the voice training classes, his father, Yash Johar, brought a brand-new computer to the office and asked him to use it. However, Karan was clueless and in shock, as he had lied to his father about attending computer classes, when in fact, he had been taking voice training classes instead.
He shared, "Unhone (Yash Johar) kaha, ‘Karan, yeh hai computer, abhi chalao.’ Main dekh raha tha—ek alien si cheez saamne padi thi. Main toh computer class gaya hi nahi tha! Main toh voice training, walking, aur talking seekhne gaya tha. Toh maine kaha, ‘Papa, mujhe nahi pata.’ Unhone pucha, ‘Teen saal tak tum kya kar rahe the?’ Maine kuch excuse bana diya."
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