An Unsuitable Boy: Review

Karan Johar’s autobiography, “An Unsuitable Boy”, co-authored by Poonam Saxena and published by Penguin Random House has hit the racks, and the slim volume of 200+ pages promised and delivered one helluva ride. The quintessential Bollywood filmmaker has always been in the news for reasons ranging from his movies to his talk show, his friendships to his fallouts. To use Johar’s favourite word, there has always been a lot of ‘conjecture’ regarding his personal life and sexual orientation, both of which he had guarded so long. But with this memoir, Karan Johar truly bares his soul, and like all his films is bound to make you emotional and teary.

“An Unsuitable Boy” is brutally honest and oddly compelling. Johar has never been one to mince his words and here too his frankness is admirable. This much-anticipated memoir has already created waves in the social media with chapters being leaked online that talked of his fallout with actress Kajol who was once a very close friend. But this is much more than a narrative of the ever changing relationship dynamics in Bollywood. It is an intensely personal book where Karan talks at length about his struggles through childhood and youth with his effeminate nature, grappling with the fact that he was different from his peer group, feeling of social isolation and coming to terms with his sexuality. It is a coming-of-age narrative packed with personal stories, insights into the fascinating world of Bollywood and the moving journey of a lonely boy who gradually transformed into a confident, successful man, comfortable in his own skin.

Johar talks extensively about his parents, Yash and Hiroo Johar who had clearly been his support system throughout and how losing his father to cancer both devastated him and changed him as a person, making him stronger and more responsible. He talks about the friendships and equations that have initiated and sustained him in the movie industry – from Aditya Chopra to Shah Rukh Khan. He traces his growing up years, finding his creative instinct, his love and passion for movie making and of course, his much speculated about sex life.

The book is full of revelations, both on the flip side of Bollywood’s pomp and glamour and about Johar’s personal life. From his own insecurities and fears in his private life, his jealousies and doubts in his profession to the self-admittedly ‘nerve-wracking’ experience of losing his virginity at the age of 26, Karan bares it all and how.

Among all the celebrity autobiographies coming out this season, Johar’s is a significant one, offering us a peek into his life and heart. The direct, intimate and conversational tone, the disarming frankness and honesty make “An Unsuitable Boy” a compelling, evocative and gripping read.

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• About the Author

About Mekhla Gan

"The whole world opened to me when I learned to read" and I have been hooked to it ever since. Suspending my own life, cocooning in someone else's imagination and in the process, living a thousand lives is for me the most exhilarating way of experiencing life. Books are what I turn to in my happy and not so happy times for it is in them that I find the words for what I have known all along..