Karan Johar's confession about his sexual orientation irks LGBT community

Mumbai: Karan Johar is easily amongst the most loved celebrities in the country. Known as one of the most reputed filmmakers, his sexual orientation has always been subjected to much scrutiny.

While many speculated about his sexuality and spread distasteful rumours of him having affairs with his collaborators and co-stars, the ace director always kept his dignified silence.

However, in his biography, 'An Unsuitable Boy,' jointly penned by Karan and Poonam Saxena, he confessed about his sexual orientation and also addressed the rumours. In his comment, he revealed that he is embarrassed of the country for its regressive approach towards homosexuality and that he'd never come out of the closet officially thanks to the judiciary of India. The filmmaker was referring to IPC Section 377 (unnatural offences), which criminalized homosexual intercourse.

While many empathized with Karan, the LGBTQ community took an object on his misinformed statement and slammed him for spreading fear among those who are still in the closet.

Pallav Patankar, noted LGBTQ activist, told Mid-Day “If an uneducated person in a remote Indian village comes and tells me that they are scared of coming out, I’d take it, but this coming from somebody with a stature as big as Karan’s, I feel let down. He should be coming out as an empowered and powerful individual, and actually make a difference for those helpless people living in villages. People who were earlier earlier considering coming out will now sit and think twice, worried that an FIR might be involved — but this is baseless. You won’t be arrested for coming out.”

Patankar further revealed that the community will stand and support Karan if he does get jailed even if he doesn’t come out in the open and lend his support to the community. Apart from him, other communities have also expressed their displeasure on Karan’s statement by bashing the filmmaker for misinforming people and encouraging homophobia.