Karan Johar opens up about handling online trolls targeting him and his family

Mumbai: Filmmaker Karan Johar has opened up about dealing with online trolls targeting him and his family.

Speaking at India’s International Movement to United Nations (I.I.M.U.N), where he was recently announced as a member of their Board of Advisors, Karan opened up about handling criticism. He told IANS, “The important thing to realise is to understand whether the criticism coming your way is coming from a place of genuine analysis. When a critic writes about your work and has not appreciated it, but you know that he or she came to watch your film wanting to love it, and then did not love it, and wrote a critical piece, you have to recognize that this person means well.”

“They did not like your film, and you must appreciate that criticism. If there is something to learn from it, you should learn, knowing that the criticism is coming from a solid place. It is not coming from bias. It is not coming from a place of being vindictive, vicious, or unnecessarily negative. The first thing, therefore, is to analyse where the criticism is coming from. That is what I do.”

Karan went on to explain, “Ninety-five percent of trolling comes from faceless, nameless, and pointless people. Mostly, they are unhappy. Many times unemployed, and therefore frustrated, angry, and bitter. All that negativity makes them want to troll you. Now, what should you feel? Should you be offended, upset, humiliated, and insulted, or should you feel pity? I choose the latter. I feel pity.

“I feel pity for anyone who trolls me for two reasons. First, I feel pity for the person who is probably struggling through the beats of their life to the extent that they are being so negative about me. They insult my way of talking, speaking, walking, and even go so far as to insult my mother, my children, my family, and my ecosystem. That level of bitterness only reflects how unhappy they are. What I should feel, therefore, is nothing but pity. Second, I also feel important. You should either be loved or hated. What you should never face is indifference. Imagine when no one talks about you. That is far worse. I never want to face indifference.”

The ace filmmaker further mentioned, “There is a famous song that says, “kuch to log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna”, and I agree with that as well. But I look at it in a very simple way. When someone says the most ridiculous things about me, insults or humiliates me, I feel only one thing, and I say this sincerely. I only feel pity.”

“I think to myself, poor fellow, poor lady. They must be extremely unhappy to waste so much energy on negativity. There may be reasons for their unhappiness, and I genuinely feel bad for that. So, the next time criticism comes your way and it is not valid, and it does not come from a well-meaning place, you know what to do. Follow your own path, feel pity for the person, and also feel happy that you are relevant enough for people to talk about you. That, for me, is the best way to move forward.”