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Karan Johar has spoken openly about being perceived as effeminate since his childhood, which led to bullyinginsecurities and a long struggle. In a recent interaction with Sania Mirza on her podcast, Karan opened up about taking voice-coaching classes for three years at the age of 15 to sound less effeminate, and lying to his father, late producer Yash Johar, about it.
He said, “I was a course junkie. I used to do courses all the time. I loved learning new things. Boys my age were playing sports in those days and I was learning cooking and even fruit and flower arrangement. I even did an import-export class. One of the courses that I was very passionate about was public speaking because I used to love elocution and drama in school.”
Karan explained how he became aware of his effeminate voice and gestures when his coach influenced him to take voice classes to make his voice more ‘baritone’-like. He said, “The gentleman, who ran the academy, right after first two sessions came to me and said, ‘You are a very bright kid but you sound like a girl. You have a very effeminate personality and your voice is that of a girl. And the world is tough on men who speak like this. So can I help you make your voice get a baritone and sound more like a man?’”
Sharing how the lack of counselling and awareness pushed him into taking the classes, he said, “This was 1989. This was a very impressionable time for any kid. We weren’t aware, there was no wokeness, there was no self awareness or counselling to help you. It wasn’t an inclusive time. You were vulnerable, scared and worried. So, I went with that advice and I did 3 years of voice coaching with him. I paid for it, I went thrice a week for 2 hours each day, but I didn’t tell my dad because I was so ashamed to say what I was really doing. I was also scared that he would ask me why.”
Karan said that though his “progressive” father never questioned his mannerisms and “was proud of everything” he did, he still took the course because the coach insisted he needed it. “I wanted to do this because that coach told me. The coach told me, ‘You will not face the world with confidence that you need if you don’t sound like a man.’”
Since Karan couldn’t admit the truth to his father, he lied and continued attending the classes. “So, I had told my dad that I’m going to computer class and took money from him to give it to my coach. Three years I did voice and walking coaching because I used to walk and run like a girl.” He added, “I was 15 years old at that time, and this went till I was 18 or 19.”
Karan almost got caught in his lie when, after three years, his father asked him to use a computer in front of him. He said, “At 19, the funniest thing happened, the computer came into my dad’s office and he was like, ‘You have been doing it for three years now, here is the computer’. And I was like I have never looked at a computer in my life because I was not doing computer classes. I told him that I don’t know what to do. He asked me what I was doing for three years, and I made some excuse and got out of here.”
