On March 4, Bollywood director Karan Johar tweeted that he had officially become the father of twins named Roohi and Yash.
That’s right, our beloved KJo is now taking on “all the responsibilities and duties that come with being a parent.” And following this news, there were nearly 4,000 replies to his tweet, filled with good wishes from fans, and film fraternity peers like Arjun Rampal and Preity Zinta. Even Perez Hilton, the king of Hollywood gossip, dropped in to say “keep doing you and spreading the light“.
But there was the other side too.
For years, Johar has been painfully scrutinised by our heteronormative society. Everything from his choice of clothes, to his gestures, and manner of speaking, and the fact that he never “settled down” is brought up time and time again to prove that he isn’t the “standard Indian man”. Deviation from the norm is punished, and in Johar’s case, people often take to using “gay” as an expletive against him. And he knows it.
Often, to swing the situation in his favour, Johar has played along – on air, on stage, everywhere – and has also engaged in a fair bit of queer-baiting as well.
Even in his more serious moments, he has chosen to stay rather ambiguous about his orientation. But matters of the heart and closet aside, our ever-watchful society never quit attacking him.
Soon after he announced he’d be taking a break from work and social engagements to focus on his children, a scared heteronormative order began outing itself online:
I don't really appreciate your action #karanjohar Getting married and then having children is the real thing to do.
— കിനാശ്ശേരി (@ajithpanakal) March 5, 2017
And It Became Downright Homophobic:
please raise them properly like but not like gays #KaranJohar
— ProudIndian (@AlwaysTruIndian) March 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/BarbiesWarrior/status/838366578634866688
https://twitter.com/BollywoodUncle/status/838330828195164160
https://twitter.com/ChuxChand/status/838578243678547968
#karanJohar is a pervert. How could he give the child " love of mother".if he thinks himself "mother" than how he will give love as father? https://t.co/kXxjTbW9nV
— Agni Veer (@atulsubedi) March 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/zafar_kamaal/status/838511726442110977
https://twitter.com/BechainLakhnavi/status/838482410434002944
They Even Managed To Be Transphobic:
https://twitter.com/malik_dazzling/status/838404208072265728
And Maybe Just Confused Too?
Father #karanjohar with unknown Mother hv produced 2 "bastards" celebrated by Nehru's Bastard MSM to publicize? No wonder Bharat hate?
— Soumitra Das (@Soumitradas4Das) March 5, 2017
And even when a valid discussion on the ethics of surrogacy was floated, it quickly became inflected with homophobic attacks like these:
True.Why should a gay who can't perform his reproductive duties be allowed to father a child from a poor woman? No to #surrogacy #KaranJohar https://t.co/HIyL4OEtDA
— J!T€N (@Jitenitis) March 5, 2017
All these reactions are to be expected.
It’s not just the fact that Johar is a single parent – there’s loads of single parents in India. So what makes his decision unpalatable to so many people? It’s the fact that any person of a ‘non-standard’ sexual orientation (not necessarily, Johar), provided they have the wherewithal, can really do as they please without conforming to society’s very heterosexual ways of living. Johar is setting out to do exactly that, and why shouldn’t he?
There is perhaps more pressure on him to perform his role as a father – at the slightest hiccup, the haters would pour in to denounce him and all non-normative parents like him. Indian society is going to hold him to an entirely different standard, but Johar is no stranger to all of this, and so far, he’s cruised through it with impeccable grace. As he says, “I have prepared myself mentally, physically, emotionally and logistically.”
And we wish him all the love and luck.
Featured image source: CNN-News 18/YouTube.