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.