5 Reasons Why I Support Karan Johar’s Views That Counter Kangana Ranaut

While reading through an open letter posted as Dear Karan, who are you to ask anyone to leave the industry, I couldn't stop myself from sympathazing with the filmmaker. While there are reasons people would side with Kangana on her outburst at the show, we should still be talking about aspects that have easily been overlooked amid the whole thing. Hence, here I'am with my reasons to reflect the other side of the feud.

A few weeks ago when Saif Ali Khan and Kangana Ranaut graced Karan Johar’s Koffee couch, the episode perhaps found most takers than any other did in the season. Not only was Kangana unapologetically herself, she also took it on herself to be the voice of many who later sided by her views. First read what she had to speak about Karan and his methodology:

“In my biopic, if it is ever made, you will play this stereotypical Bollywood biggie who is very snooty and completely intolerant to outsiders and flag bearer of nepotism, the movie mafia. You will have a huge part to play in my biopic. I like the antagonist in you in my biopic”. We didn’t find anybody having a counter opinion on Kangana’s views who went on to ridicule big names including Aditya Chopra and of course Karan himself. She also accused Karan of making fun of her English which the host shrugged off with a smile.

Now here’s how Karan made a comeback today with his reply: “She was my guest and I had to hear what she had to say. She has a right to have an opinion. When she says ‘Flag bearer of Nepotism’, I just want to say her, I am glad she knows what it all means. I don’t think she has understood the entire meaning of the term. What is nepotism… am I working with my nieces, nephews, daughters, cousins? And what about those 15 filmmakers, who are not from the film industry, who I have launched and who did the movies? That we’re not going to talk about! Tarun Mansukhani, Puneet Malhotra, Shakun Batra, Shashank Khaitan… they all come from no film background. You give these people film careers and they have a platform to stand on and that’s the reverse of nepotism. I’M DONE WITH KANGANA PLAYING THE WOMAN AND VICTIM CARD. I am done! You cannot be this victim every time and have a sad story to tell about how you’ve been terrorized by the bad world of the industry … leave it.”

While I'm are certain this is going to be followed by another fierce reply from the Rangoon actress, I don’t find anything wrong with what Karan has to say. Therefore, I come up with 5 reasons why I support Karan Johar’s comeback:

Accusing Karan of Nepotism is a Little Uncalled for, Dharma’s Filmography Proves It

In his defense when Karan cited his Dharma filmography, he was correct. Not only has he given young and dynamic filmmakers a platform to express themselves with big names, he has never shied away expanding his skylines. He distributed Baahubali’s Hindi version much before the film became this big, he has made his share of efforts to work with new people in his directorials and he continues to do so. The number of filmmakers who credit Karan to have launched their cinematic journey are: Nikhil  Advani, Soham Shah, Tarun Mansukhani, Ayan Mukherji, Rensil D’Silva, Punit Malhotra, Sidharth Malhotra, Karan Malhotra, Shakun Batra, Sonam Nair, Ritesh Batra, Vinil Mathew, Abhishek Varman, Shashank Khaitan and Nitya Mehra. By these standards, Karan could be accused of anything but nepotism in film production.

Karan is Friends With 90% of Bollywood, Cause for a Misconception of his Attitude

While we never really had trouble with Kangana expressing her views, she maybe muddled up Karan’s camaraderie with most people in the industry as monopoly. No other non-serious talk show has been able to witness all Khans make appearances. From cricketers, models, businessmen to producers and directors, Karan’s ability to have maintained an equation with all is rather commendable than condemnable! While he’s visibly comfortable sharing a joke with SRK, he’s only inquisitively interested while talking to Aamir Khan or someone like Kangana herself. While he shared a cold relation with someone like Ajay Devgn, he never really let it come in the way of her chemistry with Kajol until recently.

Kangana Being on the Couch Could have been a Start in Itself

No one holds anything against Kangana for having voiced her opinion on the show. In fact we only shower her palms for having done so in his own backyard. Having said that, Kangana sharing a coffee moment on the show could have been a start of a lot of positives! The ‘give no f***s’ approach of the actress only isolates her with a large industry that really wants her to be on their side. She didn’t just express what she felt about Karan, she went on a charade of listing out events like it meant personal vendetta. If anything, everybody including Karan acknowledges her for her renaissance and Kangana could have been a touch courteous about it.

Accusations That Held No Ground

While venting her anger on the show, Kangana also mentioned Aditya Chopra as how he looked down upon her when she first met him. How directors/producers had judgments about her work ethics but didn’t we all? Did we expect her to pull off a Queen or a Tanu Weds Manu Returns back when she was in news for all the wrong reasons? A big filmmaker can also have an opinion about people and Kangana should have instead been proud of turning things in her favor. Even Adi Chopra must have watched Queen and complimented her performance. The stalwarts like him do not personally hold anything against a struggler. Kangana’s attempts to have projected herself as an abandoned child were not entirely in the right.

Kangana May Have Really Overplayed the Woman & Victim Card

When Karan says he’s done with Kangana playing the woman and victim card, we don’t know what to make of it. However, it kind of resonates reason as how she would want to be remembered as five years down the line? An actress who raised the performance bar or a star who only made news? When she stands up for herself fighting the who’s who of the film industry, it should make people proud. However, projecting herself as someone who wasn’t given her due isn’t something that would ideally define her persona. She wasn’t cornered for it made the industry really proud, she just chose to come out of the tough times and everybody valued her persuasion. From her English accent to the Hrithik Roshan episode, Kangana has found to have been complaining of fighting a lone battle. But if that was the case, several voices from within the industry wouldn’t have been chanting her name. She wouldn’t have been invited for a Koffee to resolve differences, filmmakers wouldn’t be queueing up to get her dates.

Kangana is an inspiration to many but so is Karan. As much as we celebrate her attitude and her ability to express her views, we can’t ridicule Karan because he has a point of view of his own. If Kangana can simply shrug off everything she has been accused of, Karan can at least claim to not being the flag bearer of nepotism in Bollywood.