Dear Karan,
Neither am I an obsessed fan nor a great connoisseur of your films. I have liked some, I have gone to town promoting some and I have also stood strongly against some. I am one of those hypocrites who watch your films religiously and then say that you make boring, tear-jerking films. I have seen all except My Name Is Khan (clarification : this is not because the name was Khan). As we are in the midst of placing things in “brackets” and posting clarifications, let me share that I am deeply upset now. . . Not at you but for you. I just saw this video that you shared with every news channel.
You have proclaimed that you are a patriot and have vouched that you will not work with Pakistani artists. While you seem very confident in expressing your views, I could see your concern and your fears. In this video, you shared that you felt “a deep sense of pain that a few people actually believed that you are anti-national.”
I feel a deep sense of pain that you had to be bullied to this extent. You appealed to people to not harm your film. I feel a deep sense of anguish that you had to make such an appeal. I am angry! But, somehow, I am not propelled to reach any theatre with a bat to bully and threaten people.
I feel that the greatest level of intolerance and – I’ll dare to say it – unpatriotic behaviour is shown by people who threatened to not allow the screening of your film, and force you into such hopelessness that you had to make this video. I feel it is unpatriotic and demeaning that the actions of a few political goons get away with threats of vandalisation in a country that is the world’s largest democracy.
As a person who has seen his grand dad serve the Air Force, I can say that I love my country. And my idea of our country is where everybody has the freedom of thought and expression. Banning a film will not bring peace in the valley or even shake the Pakistanis or rescue an Indian soldier. It will only help divert the attention from the main issue.
I am happy to see, Karan, that Renuka Shahane, from your industry shares the same views, and doesn’t even batter an eye lid before standing up for you.
But then again, of course, you have people like Paresh Bharatiya Rawal, who speaks in the unnecessary tone of ridicule for obvious reasons of affiliations.
People through the media have bullied you in most part of your career. People have prodded you for your silence on your sexuality, which really should not be the nation’s concern or anyone else’s other than your own.
I am a gay man and when my fellow gay friends tell me, “Karan Johar should come out,” I would tell them, “he is so out that he will fall out.” I was deeply hurt, Karan, when some inconsiderate people realising that you are low now used this ‘opportunity’ to target you for your sexuality. I was sad to read your small but very powerful (and reasonable) outburst as a response to a tweet that not only mocked the present situation wherein your film is, it also took a dig on your sexuality by calling the film #GayDilHainMuskhil. That’s a shame!
I stand with you Karan. As a fellow gay man, who is deeply hurt to see that your vulnerability is compounded by the vilest forms of homophobia. Of course, I got told off on social media too.
Obviously, everything is not about sex or gender issues, Karan, the issue here is different. But it is a shame that they don’t realise that one’s worries get compounded when one is a sexual minority. Honestly, I would not bring up your sexuality but for the inconsiderate, shameless people who mock you for it.
I am with you Karan. While the world may keep taunting you and deserting you for being rich, for being famous, for being a man, and treat them as “privileges” you enjoy, and consider it okay to desert you from their movements; I feel the need to empathise with you. If you were anywhere near me right now, I would have given you a heartfelt, empathetic hug. I stand with you for your right to freedom of expression.
I hope Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is released. I may still just write a nasty review of the film – if I don’t like it, that is. But I really hope that it gets released in India and I get to watch it without the fear of any stone-pelting or another act of inhumane vandalism and terror.
With you,
Harish Iyer
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