Jigra role for Alia Bhatt: Karan Johar slams 'misinterpretation' of Vasan Bala's comments

Producer Karan Johar on Sunday (October ) urged people on social media to hear and read entire interviews before making "click bait assumptions", days after remarks made by Vasan Bala, the director of his latest production Jigra, in an interview went viral.

Johar shared an Instagram post to dispel rumours of a rift between him and Bala after the producer sent a "roughly drafted" script of the film to lead star Alia Bhatt without telling him.

Also read: As she weds Ranbir, a look at Alia Bhatt's growth, from 'nepo' kid to top star

Both Bala's tone and comments were misinterpreted on social media, he said.

'Lockness monster'

"I broke up with the nauseous noise and muted the unwarranted angst … but social media is like the Lockness monster. Its gets to you even when you can’t see it.. so was flooded with Vasan Bala’s interview which he answered with pure innocence and so much love … the gore misinterpretation of his comment about me sending the script to Alia without his grammar checks made me laugh initially at the ludicrousness of it all but now is truly annoying me (sic)" Johar wrote.

The producer said Bala continues to be one of his "most talented and wonderful" collaborators.

"... and if you see his interview and hear his tone you will totally get it! BUT NO … much ado about nothing is all over the place… I fold my hands and tell everyone please hear and read entire interviews before making click bait assumptions.! Loads of Love to all of you," he said.

The issue

In a recent interview, Bala said he had sent one very kaccha pakka (roughly drafted) to Johar by email.

"I think six or seven hours later, he called saying, 'I've already set it to Alia'. I was really not happy with it. I was like, 'I would have at least done some spellcheck, grammar check, hygiene, written some very nice hero entry. So that email was sent, I was like, 'Why did you do this?'. Karan said, 'No, no, this is how it works'," he had said.

This led to a furore of sorts on social media, with accusations of favouritism and nepotisim against Alia Bhatt and Karan Johar. There were entire threads put together with the argument that Alia had bagged plum roles due to her proximity to Karan Johar.

Bala, known for Mard Ko Dard Nahin Hota and Monica, O My Darling, thanked Johar in the comments section of the post.

"Love you Karan," the director wrote with a heart emoji.

Jigra revolves around Satya (Bhatt), who goes to great lengths to break her brother Ankur (Vedang Raina) out of jail. The film is slated to hit the big screen on October 11.