‘An Unsuitable Boy’: A suitable read

Little did I know I was going to spend an entire 12 hours with ‘An Unsuitable Boy’ – calm down! The e-book not the man himself.#KaranJohar Before he wakes up and sues me. And 12 hours, not coz I’m a slow reader but because I watched a bit of a movie, went out, ate, and exercised in between.

At first, I hated his preface. Coz I thought it was too self-centered. But then once the book started and he wrote about being on the sets of DDLJ, the Kuch Kuch hota hai journey and getting sucked into the movie world, the book sucked me in too.

His passion leapt off the page. The prose was not fantastic, but the book was filled with clarity of thought and a crystal clear memory for dates and incidents. As a single woman approaching her 40s, I found myself sharing his worldview

“When you’re single, unattached, all you do is hear about other people’s love stories, traumas, problems, and all the nonsense that goes on in a relationship.”

I thought to myself…there’s something so fundamentally relatable and middle class about this guy although he is probably one of the richest in the country.

He quickly laid that to rest when he shared an anecdote where he ordered three costume changes for a beggar and recounted tales of how he used to read old issues of Harper’s Bazaar as a child.

He talks about how his dad was one of the most loved people in the film fraternity and of his financial troubles, how both his parents discouraged him from the film business, how the industry was different those days to producers, the important role SRK, Aditya Chopra and Kajol have played in his life, how those relationships developed, his childhood friends, his business partnerships and the business ventures Dharma productions is involved in.

His story is simply told and he has revealed his vulnerabilities, which is not easy for a celebrity of his stature to do. This book is a must-read for creative folk and ad agency guys.