Karan Johar Apologises for Comments on Kangana and Nepotism

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Mr Johar, 45, and actors Saif Ali Khan and Varun Dhawan have been criticised for chanting "Nepotism rocks" at the award show in New York last weekend, seen as a jibe at Kangana. Speaking to reporters, Karan Johar said, "Of course I don't believe that 'nepotism rocks'. 

I regret it." Varun Dhawan, who won an award for Best Actor in a Comic Role, tweeted an apology yesterday, but Karan Johar told that it was his idea. "The idea of that joke was entirely mine, so I take onus of the idea of what we said. And I think we went a bit too far with the Kangana mention," he said. The three men - all sons of Bollywood insiders - invoked each other's famous parent on stage at IIFA, ending by chorusing "Nepotism rocks."

 It has been seen as a taunt directed at Kangana Ranaut, who told Karan Johar on his show Koffee With Karan earlier this year that he was "the flagbearer of nepotism" in Bollywood. 

 Mr Johar told , "No matter what I say or feel about my issues with what Kangana said on my talk show Koffee With Karan, I think I was raised to be a dignified, a chivalrous, and a decent person. That's the upbringing that I was given and I feel that I failed on those accounts.

Karan Johar toldthat the joke may have been in poor taste but the intention was not to hurt. "It was something that we said in humour, it may be terrible humour, bad humour, misplaced humour, but our intention was not to hurt anyone. 

"I want to once and for all say and close this chapter after this and subsequently I will not speak about nepotism nor Kangana because it would be distrustful for her and it would be ungraceful at my end, which I've already been. 

Nepotism is easy access, nobody can deny that, but what you do with that access is what moulds you into a professional."

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