Speaking in a recent interview with tennis star Sania Mirza, Johar revisited the twists and turns of his early life, including the challenges of growing up with a mannerism the world wasn’t ready to accept.
Johar revealed that back in 1989, when he was just 15, he was marching to the beat of a different drum. While boys around me were busy with sports, he said, I was exploring the world with wide eyed curiosity.
He described diving into French classes, cooking lessons, flower-and-fruit arrangement workshops, and even import export courses a list that, he joked, made him look like a one-man hobby department. But the heart of his confession lay elsewhere. During school, Johar was passionate about public speaking and stage performances. Yet one day his coach pulled him aside with words that, he says, “landed like a sudden downpour.
The coach told him, gently but firmly, that his voice, posture, and even stride resembled that of a girl, and in a society that doesn’t miss a chance to label you, this could create storms for him later in life. He wasn’t warning me, Johar said. He was preparing me.
In an act of quiet courage, Johar spent three years visiting his coach’s home three days a week, taking two-hour sessions on how to walk, talk, and carry himself like a man. It was a long road, he recalled, but I walked it with hope.
Interestingly, he kept the classes a secret from his father not out of shame but out of fear that he’d be questioned. My father didn’t care how I walked, how I spoke, or how flamboyantly I danced, Johar said warmly. He wore his pride like a badge.
To avoid raising eyebrows at home, Johar simply told his father he was attending computer classes, and quietly redirected the fee to his coach.
Today, he looks back at those years with a mix of affection, amusement, and ache. ‘They were tough times, he said, but they taught me one simple truth. you can reshape your voice, but you must never silence your truth.’
