- By Vridhi Soodhan
- Sat, 13 Sep 2025 02:50 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Karan Johar has navigated the waters of Bollywood for over two decades and has been lauded as a visionary director with a distinctive flair for emotion-driven storytelling. Still, he has been haunted by accusations of nepotism. His movies like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham redefined romance, while other ones like My Name Is Khan and Raazi showcased a director unafraid to tackle heavier subjects. However, the debate around his promotion of starkids like Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor has been a constant thorn in his journey. His supporters have always argued that he has given opportunities to outsiders like Sidharth Malhotra and Vicky Kaushal, but the trolls have pointed out his inclination towards the starkids.
Tamannaah Bhatia, who has been busy promoting her recent OTT show Do You Wanna Partner, recently defended Karan Johar amid the ongoing nepotism debate. During a recent interview with Showsha, the actress took a stand for the director and shared, “As a person, I think he’s extremely warm and welcoming and he champions people who’re from the industry and those who aren’t from the industry."
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Further, the actress hailed the filmmaker for being someone who understood the importance of strong female characters, right from the beginning. She highlighted that in movies like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Anjali was a tomboy character,and it was a groundbreaking role at that time. In other films like Raazi, the lead character was strong, independent and intricate.
Tamannaah Bhatia commented, “Perhaps, Karan possesses a profound understanding of women, but he hasn’t received enough recognition for it. He’s someone who has persistently championed this for many, many years. Time and again, he has been the face of significant causes while enjoying the glamour of the industry and being his lively self. He exemplifies how to embrace the responsibilities of the industry he belongs to, and he takes that very seriously."
On the work front, Tamannaah Bhatia and Diana Penty’s Hindi comedy-drama series Do You Wanna Partner premiered on Amazon Prime Video on September 12, 2025. The plot follows best friends Shikha and Anahita who launch a craft beer startup called Jugaaro in a male-dominated industry. Produced by Dharma Entertainment, the show has a talented cast of actors including Nakuul Mehta, Jaaved Jaaferi and Shweta Tiwari.