K Jo Thumps critics and moral judges with an unapologetic, filmy Koffee with Karan start

Brave. Not a word one would associate with Karan Johar. But the talk show host (also film producer and director) is that. Koffee with Karan Season 7 opened with a rambunctious episode featuring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, big draws for viewers across all age groups. And it minced no words in calling itself what it is- about catfights, gossip and personal lives of stars.

His opening salvo in this season featured the actor that he is most accused of having promoted through his nepotism network, Alia Bhatt. And the second star on the couch is also someone who is supposed to have been nurtured by yet another invisible iron fist and godfather of nepotism, Aditya Chopra. Basically he addressed countless accusations of groupism head on- by simply ignoring them.

Karan Johar took the roughest online beating during the pandemic when Sushant Singh Rajput, a much loved star, committed suicide. Comments made by other actors of his generation, including a distracted response from Alia Bhatt (when his name came up during  a game round on a previous season, she just said, Who?) were considered as reasons that pushed the talented, intelligent actor over the edge. Karan Johar became enemy number 1, the man who conspired and connived behind the scenes, at his lavish, sinful parties for his coterie of lapping movie stars, to somehow damage Sushant. You could almost imagine, Karan wearing a bunch of rings, rolling his fingers a bit like Mugambo from Mr India, while he drew up evil plans to go after the ‘outsider’ star. Social media basically roasted him inside out for a good 6 months.  That his films have worked will and that many of these stars who have been called out as ‘nepo’ kids are part of popular films, didn’t impact any of the anger laden accusations that came his way.

The conversation about nepotism influencing Hindi cinema and ruling ‘Bollywood’  began with the nepotism remarks made by Kangana Ranaut on his show, where she called him the godfather of nepotism in a past season. Johar seems unmoved by any of this. His season is frothy, gossipy and a bit like a polished, well written Page 3 column from the yesteryears where an Alia Bhatt is unabashed about discussing her love life with husband Ranbir Kapoor. She shared details about their proposal, their familial bond with the sad demise of Rishi Kapoor (Ranbir’s father), and the dreamy, intimate wedding where Johar cried with happiness. All this while Bhatt’s comfort with Johar, who is her mentor and her biggest cheerleader, was evident. That their romance was made of super luxe millionaire sized choices seemed not to matter. While playing three rounds of games, yes, three, she also came across as unpretentious- not a word commonly used for actors.

Ranveer Singh, as always dressed peculiarly and very high on energy, entertained throughout the show. His responses to invoke humour- like having sex playlists, or his mimicry of other movie stars posing for the paparazzi- worked. But the versatile star didn’t miss out on chances to pointedly highlight that favouritism and bias affect work for actors. For instance, he mentioned that he was rejected from Bombay Velvet, a super expensive mega flop starring Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma, because at that point his star value was not considered dependable. “Now things have changed,” he quipped, a remark that Karan smartly avoided responding to. Singh also joked about Johar’s ‘nepo bias’ when Alia Bhatt won one of the games on this show. When it came to questions about cinema or his personal behaviour he displayed candour and a complete lack of inhibition.

Aside from sating curiosity around these stars’ lives post marriage, and entertaining viewers, there is one aspect that stood out as very inadequate. This is the first season of Johar’s celebrity chat show after the Covid 19 pandemic, the biggest public health disaster in modern history. Very little was touched upon here; other than asking about ‘fears’ and some such vague emotions about being locked down. It is  a fact in Indian entertainment that networks and OTT platforms are directly discouraging content creators from focusing on pandemic experiences as they make for ‘bad’ entertainment. Yet if anyone could have brought out empathy around worldwide suffering, it could have been K Jo. A few minutes spent on discussing this would have elevated this chat show to more than just frivolous conversations. And people who work in the film industry for a daily living were also amongst the worst hit financially, which would have made referencing the pandemic relevant.

As more episodes line up promising fun frolic and fashion from movie stars, camp ‘Bollywood’- a nebulous, non spatial and thriving entity will definitely get Hotstar many subscribers. That those who have been part of the inside circle of Hindi cinema continue to strut their stuff without getting intimidated by a rising chorus of moral policing and shaming, reflects gumption. And Karan Johar leads this merry bunch right at the top with his Koffee and First world problem laden conversations.

Archita Kashyap is an experienced journalist and writer on film, music, and pop culture. She has handled entertainment content for broadcast news and digital platforms over 15 years. 

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