Karan Johar on Dostana 2: ‘You will see that the representation is accurate, non-caricaturish and on point’

Condemning the use of item songs in films, Karan Johar says, ‘I can’t take back those songs that I put out there in cinema that have objectified women but I can say for a fact that I will not do it again.’

Filmmaker Karan Johar has said there has been an evolution in depiction of sexuality in Bollywood and his forthcoming film, Dostana 2 will treat it with utmost sensitivity. The film is a sequel to 2008’s Dostana, that chronicled the story of two men who pretend to be gay to share an apartment with a girl with whom they eventually fall in love. The new film features Kartik Aaryan, Janhvi Kapoor and debutant Lakshya.

Karan Johar opens up on how he sees item songs, promising that he will never use them again.

 

The filmmaker said Dostana was a conversation starter, so there was a depiction of sexuality that was “caricaturish, even in a cinema that I had produced” but today he wouldn’t do that. “The evolution is from one Dostana to the other. Dostana one that released in 2008 and the Dostana 2 that’s releasing in 2020, you will see that the representation is accurate, non-caricaturish and on point, talking about sexuality in a way that will not make you cringe while watching it. So therein lies the fact that in the last 12 years, there has been a solid change in the way we depict gay characters. Even in Kapoor & Sons and the way it was depicted,” he said.

Johar was speaking at We The Women curated by Barkha Dutt. At the session titled ‘Ten things men must change about Bollywood’, the filmmaker was asked how does he look at item numbers, including the ones in his films and Johar said he doesn’t feel he did the right thing at that point of time with inclusion of such tracks.

“I didn’t think that there were going to be repercussions... Cinema is such an impressionable medium. It were just things that you didn’t think of and then when you’re told, you realise that they are true, you’ve to apologise to the society that you possibly scarred as a result of what you put out there. I can’t take back those songs that I put out there in cinema that have objectified women but I can say for a fact that I will not do it again,” he added.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

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