Abstract
ABSTRACT This paper critically contextualizes the open secret of Karan Johar’s sexuality as a key marketable commodity in the neoliberal framework of the ‘KJo’ brand. It examines the cultural legibility of the open secret of his sexuality. It argues that the juxtaposition between the ubiquity of his open secret and his maintained silence on identifying his sexuality serves as an incitement that enables a study of his role in incrementally making space for a depoliticized and individualized upper-class male same-sex sexuality. By mapping the textuality of his open secret in the culture industry surrounding the Hindi film industry, this paper offers a nuanced critique of the co-option of male same-sex sexuality by Karan Johar and its deployment as a gimmick.
Highlights
One Night with Karan, a short film directed by Gauri Shinde launched on Karan Johar’s Instagram page on 31 October 2019, is an advertisement produced by the creative agency Lowe Lintas for the Hindustan Unilever soup brand Knorr India.1 The advertisement is unique as it unabashedly deploys the open secret of Johar’s unnamed sexuality alongside an affirmation of his celebrity
By map ping the textuality of his open secret in the culture industry sur rounding the Hindi film industry, this paper offers a nuanced critique of the co-option of male same-sex sexuality by Karan Johar and its deployment as a gimmick
This involves negotiating the ambivalences of class, rationalisation of production, and capi talising on the space opened-up for alternative sexualities in public culture
Summary
One Night with Karan, a short film directed by Gauri Shinde launched on Karan Johar’s Instagram page on 31 October 2019, is an advertisement produced by the creative agency Lowe Lintas for the Hindustan Unilever soup brand Knorr India. The advertisement is unique as it unabashedly deploys the open secret of Johar’s unnamed sexuality alongside an affirmation of his celebrity. Key to the ‘KJo’ brand and ever present in Johar’s public appearances, a series of ‘KJo’ films contribute to the gentrification of homophobia and the depoliticization of same-sex sexuality in Bollywood and the broader cultural industry. Johar’s various public appearances as a star director/producer on a range of media programmes, including those produced by him, are immensely successful because of the way in which the open secret perpetuates a pleasure predicated on knowledge of the secret and permits the emergence of a depoliticized and destigma tized male same-sex sexuality This deployment capitalizes on the neoliberal transforma tions within the socio-political climate of India and the Hindi film industry without crucially upsetting the framework of the family melodrama and the cultural nationalist formulation of tradition and culture. It is this audience that Johar is catering to at the head of Dharma Productions and riding the waves of transformation afforded by the gentrification of homophobia, the successful deployment of his open secret, and the marketability of same-sex sexuality while balancing the profitability in making films
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