Karan Johar: I fill my day with work so that I don't think about my single status

Karan Johar

Karan Johar has been candid about his personal life more than once on the current season of Koffee With Karan. Koffee With Karan season 8 started with Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone as guests. Their wedding video was specially unveiled on the chat show, moving Karan to tears. He then spoke about longing for such love and a life partner in his life.

The 51-year-old filmmaker recently interacted with the media about KWK 8, where he explained why he is more open to talking about his singlehood now. "People tend to judge you by the impression they have of you, but nobody knows the real person behind any of the projected intent of that social, public figure. We put out a version of ourselves when we give an interview or promote a film, we protect our vulnerabilities. Then at one point in time, you grow older, wiser you evolve and you feel that sharing a piece of your life is not as scary as it used to be," he said.

Nothing can replace a romantic relationship

Karan continued, "I had already written a book when I was 43 years old, which had 80 per cent of what I could share. There is always a 20 per cent that you hold back. I have two children. I am co-parenting them with my mother, not with a partner. That means I have a single status, which is filled in with a lot of work. I push in so much work in the day that I don't think about my single status. That's what we all do when you are single and lonely, perhaps not wanting to address that loneliness, you pack your day with things because you want to distract yourself. And then you believe, that if you have great friendships and a great family life, it can actually compensate for the lack of a passionate, intense romantic relationship. Nothing can replace that."

Consumed by loneliness

"Life is full of boxes, parents fill one, children fill the other, friends fill another. But there's a box for an intense love romantic relationship, that, if you don't experience, there is a sense of incompleteness that nothing can ever fulfill. And that loneliness can actually consume you. It has consumed me. I have not been in a relationship for many years, a decade almost, and only I know what that really feels like. Fortunately for me, I can live vicariously through cinema. I can create those stories and characters that perhaps I would like... not everybody has that privilege. I am a storyteller, what I can't experience I can write and execute on celluloid," he said.