Karan Johar avoids Kangana Ranaut at the Amazon Event

It seems unlikely that the cold war between Karan Johar and Kangana Ranaut would end anytime soon. Neither seems to be in the mood to call a truce. What transpired at Amazon Prime Video’s mega–event on Thursday made it very obvious to the entire congregation that Karan made it a point to steer clear of all things Ranaut at the event.

Here is what happened: Karan Johar was the host for the evening….until it was time for Kangana to come on stage to present her forthcoming film Tiku Weds Sheru on Amazon. About half an hour before Kangana was to appear on stage, Karan Johar slipped out of his host’s duties, with the excuse that he needed to freshen up.

Sumukhi Suresh took over the hosting duties until Ms Ranaut’s stage presence ended at the event. The matter didn’t end there. After the event, Kangana posted on the social media a scathing comment on Netflix’s apparent fall and Amazon’s dizzying climb referencing a “fading …bitchy gossipy nineties director.”

Kangana’s post read: “Data suggests that @primevideoin is doing way better than @netflix_in in India maybe because they are much more open-minded and democratic when international head visits India they don’t park themselves at a fading 90s director’s infamous party but meet everyone who is contributing to them… Last I heard @netflix_in head was not able to understand the Indian market… Well, the Indian market is not just one bitchy gossipy nineties director…. There are hundreds of talented people here.”

While Karan Johar refrained from comment, a close friend of the producer-director-socialite commented, “There will be no olive branch from Karan’s side. He hasn’t done anything to offend anyone. So why the uninterrupted tirade and innuendos?”

The Kangana-Karan cold war began when she appeared on his popular chat show Koffee With Karan. Among the accusations that Kangana was impelled to spit out at Karan Johar on Koffee With Karan were allegations of him being the “flag-bearer of nepotism” and a “snob”. She also called him the “movie mafia”.

Karan Johar hit back saying if the film industry is such a bad place, Kangana should leave. Kangana Ranaut has been going on with her anti-Bollywood tirade for some time now. Her self-worth shot up after she gave a hit in a female-empowered film Queen . The film industry decided to demonstrate its generosity of heart towards this audaciously outspoken mercurial actress.

Lamentably, the more the industry celebrated Kangana’s free-spirited nature the more emboldened she was to make impolite comments against any and everyone from Deepika Padukone to Hrithik Roshan . Matters have come to a point where a large number of the film industry’s top notchers from Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn (both of whom swore off working with her during the making of David Dhawan’s Rascals ) to Saif Ali Khan and Shahid Kapoor (her Rangoon co-stars) are disinclined to work with Kangana.

Not that she cares. Kangana sees herself as a one-woman industry. Which in some ways, she is.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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