Karan Johar, who has never shied away from speaking about his body transformation and his struggles with an "effeminate" voice and body language, opened up about a chapter from his childhood when he hid from his father, the late Yash Johar, that he had enrolled in a course to make his voice sound more baritone. During his recent appearance on Sania Mirza's podcast, Karan Johar shared that a coach advised him to take a voice-modulation course.
What Karan Johar's Coach Advised Him
"I was a course junkie. I used to do courses all the time. I loved learning new things. Boys my age were playing sports in those days, and I was learning cooking and even fruit and flower arrangement. I even did an import-export class. One of the courses that I was very passionate about was public speaking because I loved elocution and drama in school," Karan recalled.
Karan Johar was told by his coach that he sounded "like a girl" and needed the course to "sound more like a man".
He said, "The gentleman who ran the academy, right after the first two sessions, came to me and said, 'You are a very bright kid, but you sound like a girl. You have a very effeminate personality and your voice is that of a girl. And the world is tough on men who speak like this. So can I help you get a baritone and sound more like a man?'"
So, Karan Johar decided to pursue the course without letting his father know.
"This was 1989. It was a very impressionable time for any kid. We weren't aware, there was no wokeness, no self-awareness, or counseling to help you. It wasn't an inclusive time. You were vulnerable, scared, and worried. So I went with that advice, and I did three years of voice coaching with him. I paid for it, I went thrice a week for two hours each day, but I didn't tell my dad because I was so ashamed to say what I was really doing. I was also scared he would ask me why," Karan added.
How Did Karan Johar Confront His Father?
Karan continued attending classes without revealing the truth to his father. "So I told my dad that I was going to computer class and took money from him to give to my coach. For three years, I did voice and walking coaching because I used to walk and run like a girl," he recalled. "I was 15 years old at that time, and this went on until I was 18 or 19."
But then, a day came when Karan's father asked him to run a computer in front of him. He said, "At 19, the funniest thing happened: the computer came into my dad's office and he was like, 'You've been doing it for three years now, here is the computer.' And I was like, I have never looked at a computer in my life because I was not doing computer classes. I told him I didn't know what to do. He asked me what I was doing for three years, and I made some excuse and got out of there."
Karan Johar made his directorial comeback with Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani in 2023 after seven years. More recently, he has been seen as a host in the Amazon Prime reality show The Traitors.
