Grey side of a glittering life : The Tribune India

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Book Review: An Unsuitable Boy by Karan Johar with Poonam Saxena.

Grey side of a glittering life

His movies are blockbusters, the book may well not be. However, like his cinema that has made us cry, laugh and wince in pain, it has a running emotional thread. Karan Johar, the man with the Midas touch, whose films entertain, transport and tug at our heart strings, does exactly the same with An Unsuitable Boy.

Grey side of a glittering life

Already public: The book doesn’t offer any more salacious details than already known through excerpts published in the media



Nonika Singh

His movies are blockbusters, the book may well not be. However, like his cinema that has made us cry, laugh and wince in pain, it has a running emotional thread. Karan Johar, the man with the Midas touch, whose films entertain, transport and tug at our heart strings, does exactly the same with An Unsuitable Boy. 

It unfolds rather innocuously and the opening line ‘I have always lived in Bombay’ is as un-dramatic as it can be. But soon enough, the storyteller in him takes over and envelopes us in the tale of the man who is today one of the most successful and visible faces in the business of movie making.

First person accounts run the danger of being a trifle too laudatory. Mistakes can easily be glossed over and self-criticism isn’t a virtue celebrities are expected to nurture. Karan too isn’t the least bit apologetic about the kind of person he is or the movies he makes. What others, including Shabana Azmi, have to say about his yuppie movies finds mention.

However, he offers no defence to their unflattering appraisal of his films, which in their own way, have charted new paths and crossed new frontiers. Yes, when he made Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, he did suffer from bouts of self-introspection, especially since the movie was pitted against the likes of Dil Chahta Hai and Lagaan. But since then, the sugary-syrupy-glossy melodrama went on to become the highest-ever grosser for Dharma Productions — clearly those moments too passed for the maker who unabashedly and perhaps rightly believes: ‘the only art that resonates is when it’s commercial.’ Only his expected highpoints (read stupendous box office successes such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho, Student of The Year) are well accounted for, replete with behind the scenes highlighters.

However, mind you, this is no hagiography. Even when the tone becomes self-congratulatory, as he talks of his marketing skills and his inborn instinct to smell a winner, it’s not the boastful arrogant Karan at the fore. Rather look at him whichever way — as a young man who wanted to be a fashion designer and came into films courtesy Aditya Chopra and later SRK or the one who is today trolled mercilessly by his detractors — he is as relatable as the boy next-door. 

Yes, on the barometer of the advice he gives to the younger generation — open up, don’t clam up — he is upfront and then not quite. Certainly not as brutal or candid as one expects this motor-mouth to be! He doesn’t shy away from discussing his sexuality or tackling insidious rumours about him and SRK head on. 

If you think the book offers any more salacious details than already known through excerpts published in the media, you will be in for disappointment. But, for sure, there are very many other personal details that you may not have heard of and then several are recounted again. Some well-known aspects of his life, like how he ran from the boarding school at the behest of Twinkle Khanna are reiterated.

No doubt, ever since the book came out much has been made of his sexuality, as well as his spat with Kajol, yet the most memorable parts are where he recalls his relationship with his late father Yash Johar. That sure is a two hankies (no pun intended) chapter and moves you completely and humanises Karan as a thinking-feeling person. Besides, while the book has been co-authored, nowhere do you feel that anyone other than Karan is talking to you. 

Indeed, the book has an easy, conversational style often punctuated with trademark Karan Johar wit. In his musings on Bollywood today, he dubs television as the annoying mother-in-law. Some critics too get a taste of his sharp tongue. Beyond the peppy, high-on-life Karan Johar that millions meet on his hugely popular show Koffee With Karan, you get to see his serious side too. The Karan who philosophises over success, ‘Success is a huge, huge burden,’ who gets anxiety attacks and pops sleeping pills, stands up. However, none of these confessions (if they can be called so) makes him any less endearing. More suitable than unsuitable (we get the pun KJO) only he comes across as a very human and likeable guy, with foibles and vulnerabilities intact.

Here is a celebrity who has not only chosen to step out of his ivory tower, but also refrains from speaking from the pulpit to tell his story that has success writ all over it. Immensely readable, his fans might have a wish-list for sequels of his mega-hits. Another memoir from the star director, who is only 44, would be in the order of things. And then he can put names to secret lovers and call a few haters names… yet either way readers would be hugely interested. For, whether Karan talks or writes, people are compelled to pay attention.

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