The death of Sushant Singh Rajput has shocked the entire nation to its core. A bright star at the horizon of the Bollywood industry was seemingly pushed to the edge of suicide by the vultures of the Bollywood. In the immediate aftermath of Sushant’s death, Bollywood biggies like Salman Khan, Mahesh Bhatt, Karan Johar, and others who promote the culture of nepotism and the godfather-esque culture were shown the mirror by the public.
Director Karan Johar and the founder of Dharma Production was a primary target of brutal trolling on social media platforms. Now, reports have come in which state that Johar has not taken the trolling in good stride, albeit it has broken him as a man. An article in Bollywood Hungama written by Subhash K Jha reveals that Karan has been wallowing in self-pity.
Hashtags like #JusticeforSushantSinghRajput and #KaranJoharBully had trended on twitter after Sushant’s demise which spoke volumes about the larger public sentiment.
“Karan is a broken man. After being trolled for years he thought he had developed a thick skin. But the brutal hatred that he has received after Sushant’s death has left him shattered.” the article read.
The close friend mentioned in the article also iterated that Karan wasn’t planning to issue any statement about the entire fiasco, albeit, on the advice of his lawyers, he was going to keep mum.
“None at all. Lawyers’ advice. Better to keep mum. Karan is in no condition to speak. The fight has gone out of him. He looks like a man beaten by fate. It’s not a pleasant experience to speak to Karan. He breaks down and cries when we call him. He is constantly crying and asking what he has done to deserve this,” the article further read.
Ironically, Subhash K Jha is the same film critic/writer who had written a horrendous article, merely a day after Sushant’s death in Congress’s mouthpiece newspaper National Herald, dubbing Sushant as a mentally troubled person who used to hear weird voices. Jha had made these discoveries by talking to a woman that claimed to be a close confidant of Mahesh Bhatt.
Consequently, it is difficult to predict if the article about Karan Johar’s self-pity is the truth or just another Bollywood PR exercise to douse the fire of negative publicity.
Kangana Ranaut has time and again mentioned that Karan Johar spearheads the grotesque culture of nepotism in the industry. In an interview on Karan’s own show, ‘Koffee with Karan’, Kangana had called him the ‘torch-bearer of nepotism’ and the ‘snooty’ Bollywood mafia.
Karan Johar has on several occasions confessed that he is part of several Bollywood WhatsApp groups that are formed solely with the purpose to manufacture gossip and leak it into the media.
The 34-year old actor’s suicide has led to demands for a probe from several quarters. His family in Patna, Bihar is devastated and is demanding a CBI investigation into the matter.
A case has been filed against Bollywood biggies which includes Karan Johar. Other names are Salman Khan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and Ekta Kapoor. All of them have been booked under Sections 306, 109, 504 & 506 of IPC in connection with the actor’s death in a court in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.
However, trolling someone mercilessly online is not the solution but that shouldn’t also absolve Johar from his past misdeeds. We can’t simply sweep Karan Johar’s nepotistic tendencies under the rug, just because he is heartbroken.
If Karan Johar had been indulging in such activities, now is the time to own up to it and make the necessary amends. It’s never too late for change.