In the latest webisode of Ishq FM’s Calling Karan, KJo tackles the difficult subject of body-shaming and the subsequent bullying that follows it.
A self-confessed “over weight” girl talks to Karan Johar about her parents asking her to settle down with a man who might be older and a little on the heavier side. Taking no prisoners, Karan tells her that nobody should force her to settle for anything less than what she deserves and she should be proud of who she is.
This is the problem. Sometimes, our parents and our seniors in the house don’t realise how they can actually shape the way we think in life. Your body is your own. It’s your prerogative to look the way that you do. Sometimes, people go through various reasons why the weight piles on and it’s not something that we can very loosely talk about. Your weight is your personal journey, and space. It is who you are. And I think that I do agree with you. Your parents should not be saying this to you constantly. Your parents should not be apologetic about the way you are. They should be proud of who you are. They should say ‘she’s a beautiful, clever girl. She’s lovely, we raised her to be a solid girl. And the way she looks is immaterial’.Karan Johar
Like we said, Karan is not one to mince words.
Karan also got a surprise caller in the form of celebrity, Arjun Rampal who asks if he will get love without the designer labels and Dolce and Gabbanas. Karan assures him that designer labels have nothing to do with love.
Continuing with the theme of the show, Karan spoke about the perceptions about body-shaming. He said that it’s not just over-weight people who struggle with the way they look. “People also comment if you’re very thin, if you’re dark or you’re tall or very short”.
Opening up about his own weight issues growing up, he said,
When I was a kid, I was very large and over weight. People start calling you fatty and motu or ponchi, which they think are cute but it’s not really cute or funny. It can scar you, or stay with you, give you a complex. It eats into your ecosystem and it kind of models the person you eventually become and it’s not nice. I can’t bear those people who meet you and the first thing they say is, ‘Ae put on some weight haan’. I don’t get why people have to comment on your weight. It’s not cool!
Karan also spoke about feeling responsible for Alia Bhatt being obsessive about her weight because he was the first one to ask her to lose it. Watch what he said in the webisode here:
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