A day after Karan Johar was trolled on social media for allegedly "insulting" the culture and the traditional headgears of the people of the Northeast, the filmmaker apologised Wednesday for his "purely unintentional" remarks.
The director uploaded a video clip on Instagram on November 10 shot on the sets of reality talent show "India's Got Talent", where he, along with Kirron Kher and Malaika Arora serve as jury.
After being severely criticised for his comments, Johar replied to an Assamese journalist, saying he would like to apologise in case he had hurt any sentiments.
"You are absolutely right and I would like to apologise if I have hurt any sentiments.
"It was purely unintentional and came from a place of no knowledge which is absolutely no excuse. I am extremely sensitive to the different cultures of our land and I am very sorry," he wrote on Twitter.
Johar also said that he had deleted the post in question from his Instagram, but we found the video in Kirron Kher's page.
The aforementioned clip showed Kher wearing a spiked bamboo Arunachalee hat and the director exclaiming, "Oh my god, what is that on your head?"
To this Kher replied, "People from Arunachal Pradesh have brought it for me and they have got this for you," showing him an Assamese Japi, a traditional hat made of bamboo, dried leaves and pieces of coloured cloth.
When the actor-politician asked why Johar was not wearing the Japi, he says, "Because you have guts, I don't.