Filmmaker Karan Johar celebrated Friendship Day on Sunday, August 2, in his own style, sharing a heartfelt post expressing his feelings, mentioning how friendship helped him deal with childhood loneliness, self-doubt, and some of his most challenging experiences.
In his deeply emotional post Karan shared the thought of him 7 year old self, “I used to look outside of my building window as a PLUS size 7 year old (trust me I am being kind to myself and politically appropriate), I looked at the boys playing gully cricket and my first thought was – why can’t hopscotch (yes I am GEN X that used to be a thing) be a national sport? I was so incapable of either making a run or making a run for it…”
Further, he shared about having no friends, being lonely as a single child, and his first friend who made him realize life: “My second thought was why don’t I have any friends? Being an only child gave me the greatest gift of all time…self pity!!!! So while I was lamenting my Sai bhaji problems (all Sindhis will know this ref) an angel in the form of a gregarious parsee girl named Farzana Muncherjee came into my life! She swooped me out of my slumber and made me realise I was a hyper melodramatic drama queen and all I needed was to get out of my bedroom and create a new space for myself. She was my first friend. And my journey with friendship began! (47 years later Farzana is a huge part of my heart even today).”
Sharing the story behind the second most close friend of his life, Karan mentioned about Dharma Productions CEo Apoorva Mehta: “My second tryst with lifelong friendship was when I got into the 6th standard, 6C to be precise, and I was always a 2A 3A 4A 5A kid but a secretarial error put me in a C! I knew no one! I was alone again (self-pity pro max was back). My principal put me in front of the class and asked the class (embarrassingly) – who will be Karan Johar’s friend?!! (awkward silence) Who!!!?? She asked again!?? (dig a hole Karan and jump into it) and then with Mani Ratnam-esque backlight, a hand went up. His name was Apoorva Mehta (my boss, best friend, and CEO of Dharma today). He agreed and then said to me “bring veg snacks from tomorrow” (apparently that was the only criteria).”
Talking about his evolved self, friendships who are family to him, Karan shared staying in ICU for 15 days recently when his mother was not well, “Post that, he made me make many friends, and I realised I needed to get over my own complexes (weight, effemnity, acne) and embrace myself and people will then embrace me! I guess it was as simple as that. My friends today are my family.
I am blessed with the best friends anyone can ask for! Recently I was in an ICU for 15 days with my mom (she’s back home and doing well now) and I realised how much love I have… no matter what your wealth may be – the only investment that will alway reap rich dividends is friendship.”
Expressing his gratitude for the friendship he has, Karan said, “I thank all of my friends for being with me through my turbulent days and nights…. I love you all so much, and you know who you are!!!!! All of you have my love and loyalty for life!”
And concluded with a hard-hitting statement that Friendship isn’t love but it’s even more than that, “Happy friendship day… I would say the cheesy “mujhse dosti karoge?” to end my gratitude monologue but my troll army (I love you all as well) may be offended…
PS: pyaar dosti hai is all very well… But I hate to shatter that bubble and say pyaar se kahi zyaada dosti hai!
Love you and happy friendship day again.”
