Karan Johar glosses over love and its hard truths - in the Netflix show ‘What the Love’

• In the Netflix show, ‘What the love’ he turned cupid for a reality show that promises to ‘help’ people find love.
  
• The most progressive part of the show was its diversity with gay and straight contestants.
  
• Karan chose an eclectic mix of contestants that included people who are insecure, queer, workaholics, low-self esteem and much more.

Bollywood producer Karan Johar is best known for his show ‘Koffee with Karan’ where he is known to set-up all available singles. Last season, he brought Karthik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan together. Now, he is taking his matchmaking skills to the general public.

In the Netflix show, ‘What the love’ he turned cupid for a reality show that promises to ‘help’ people find love. But what it actually does is gloss over the many problems they have in 30 minute episodes. While the show is entertaining, it is not fulfilling.

“I am a nosy aunty,” he claimed a bunch of singles as the show kickstarts to a party. Flanked by a stylist and fashion designer, Johar critiques them for their dressing sense - even as he himself wore floral and velvet jackets.

Girls remain in the closet - but gay sons are accepted

What he did achieve was to catch the underlying problem behind the single status of many people. The most progressive part of the show was its diversity with gay and straight contestants.

“Some of my girlfriends refuse to come out of the closet,” complained a girl who works in the aviation sector. “That’s because gay men are an accepted part of the social fabric,” Johar declared.

Karan chose an eclectic mix of contestants that included people who are insecure, queer, workaholics, low-self esteem and much more. And he brought in celebrities like

Arjun Kapoor, Sunny Leone, Mallika Dua for therapy sessions with the contestants. However, some of the messages were preached and not practiced. For one, the stylist tried to turn the face of a girl insecure about her weight - ‘oval’ with make-up. She also got a makeover to make her feel ‘confident’.

Staged and scripted

This is Johar’s third tryst with a web series. While his lust story as a part of Big Four directors on Netflix took off to a good start, his ghost story was thrashed by the social media. And, this time too, few people seem to have liked the show - though it makes for a nice watch on a lonely Valentine’s day.





However, the frequent celebrity walk-ins, the mock horror face that Johar makes during conversations does not go down well. The show looks staged, scripted and sculpted for happy endings - just like in his movies.


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