View: No more nepo baby head body, Karan Johar kii ajeeb metamorphosis kahaani
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (RARKPK), and for the latest season of his interview show, Koffee With Karan, feels like one.
This is not a comeback from a hiatus, but a dramatic shift in the public response to Johar, following three years in which he was singled out by raging online hordes as the poster boy of nepotism in the Hindi film industry.
In June 2020, when the actor Sushant Singh Rajput committed suicide, there was an outcry about cliques in Hindi film circles. What could have been a healthy debate soon descended into noise when an abusive, illogical internet mob took over the discourse. While 'nepo babies' of all Hindi film families came under fire, Johar was identified as their head boy.
Johar's coronation is partly attributable to the industry grapevine.
The director-producer-writer — son of the late producer Yash Johar — has long been dogged by behind-the-scenes charges of favouritism towards industry insiders. Then, in 2017 on his show, the actor Kangana Ranaut openly described him as a 'flagbearer of nepotism'.
At the time, Ranaut was applauded by liberals. Much has changed since then.
Her sobriety, for one, has turned to screaming irrationalism. As the self-appointed commander-in-chief of an anti-nepotism virtual army, she destroyed the likelihood of a serious scrutiny of her industry by using the debate to snipe at foes, especially those not aligned with her right-wing politics.
Johar was sharp enough to recognise that his bete noire was imploding. So, between 2020 and 2023, he maintained a low profile in the media, but remained unrelenting at work.
