Filmmaker Karan Johar has broken his silence over allegations of hosting a drug party for a few A-list Bollywood stars at his home last month.
“I toyed with the idea of giving out a statement. I toyed with giving out a thought on the social media about something,” Johar said in a recent interview with journalist Rajeev Masand.
“There were achieving members of the industry who were having an easy night out after a hard week of work, having a good time. I took that video with all the earnestness... would I be putting out that video if there was anything happening at all, I am not stupid.”
Last month, Johar had posted a video on Instagram of a party at his home.
Soon afterwards, Akali Dal MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa shared the video, alleging that stars who were present at the party — such as Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor, Malaika Arora and Vicky Kaushal — had a “drugged look”.
He tagged the video with #UdtaBollywood, referring to the movie ‘Udta Punjab’, which was about the drug menace in the state of Punjab and which, incidentally, starred Shahid.
Johar has now opened up on how the reflection of a light near Kaushal was misconstrued as proof of drug usage.
“Apparently you are not allowed to scratch your nose. Apparently, you are not allowed to put your phone in your back pocket. Apparently, a shadow of light is perceived to be some kind of powder,” he said, revealing that Kaushal was recovering from dengue and was drinking hot water with lemon.
“Some of us were chatting and some of us were having wine, but that was it. It was a baseless accusation, and it really annoyed me because you are taking away the culture and tradition that I have been raised in. My mother was appalled when she read those things because she was there. Which powder? We are all very committed professionals,” he said.
The filmmaker called it a night out where friends were letting their hair down.
“My mother, five minutes before this video, was sitting with us. It was that kind of a family, happy, social gathering, where friends were sitting and having a good time and we were listening to some music, having some good food and having good conversational energy there. There was nothing else going on,” he said.
“The reason I didn’t put it out was because ‘why do I need to justify a house party which was a casual get together with good friends?’ How dare you grab it away from us? How dare somebody constantly make us soft target? It is ridiculous that someone can start spotting these things,” Johar said.
He also said that his friends, who were present in the video, also found the accusations ridiculous.
“I thought if I justify it will start looking that I am speaking too much in defence.”
While he didn’t react to these accusations, he has decided that he will take a legal action next time.
“I am not taking this very kindly, the next time where baseless accusations, I will take the legal route. You cannot mar our solid reputations, our sincere reputations our committed reputations just because you are presuming something. You cannot put out a baseless accusation that has no base, no fact, no truth, no reality and try and mar us and our reputations, it’s ridiculous.”
The incident, he claimed, has left an impact on his mind.
“I am, now, afraid to call up people to my home thinking that they might be afraid to show up,” he said.
