Karan Johar confesses to suffering from 'travel anxiety'; gets candid about flying: ‘I pop a pill and pray for sleep’

Karan Johar has never shied away from speaking about his inner world, and his latest confession is one many anxious flyers will understand. The filmmaker admitted that on long flights, he copes by saying he will pop a pill and pray for sleep, even though his subconscious mind is always turbulence aware.

Travel anxiety that starts long before takeoff

In his candid note, shared on Instagram, Johar began with a warning to his followers: "So disclaimer: not that it matters, you are free to troll me… What I am about to write may be considered a champagne problem… but I do feel many will resonate…" He then confessed to having a desperate need to reach the airport early (sometimes even before the ground staff have arrived).




The anxiety continues in the lounge, where he said he checks his passport and boarding pass repeatedly. "Then, in the lounge, I check my passport and my boarding card 50 times," he wrote. Once on board, "I wait for the pilot to announce the duration of the flight…. As if my life depends on it." If the pilot promises a smooth ride, he can relax, but a mention of a few bumps on the way leaves him on the edge of his seat and checking the map every 10 minutes on a short-haul flight.

Politeness, turbulence and the race to deplane

Johar explained that on longer journeys, "On a long-haul flight, I pop a pill and pray for sleep," even as his mind stays tuned to every possible jolt. He also revealed a slightly comic coping strategy: "I feel the desperate urge to be hugely polite to the cabin crew (in case of an emergency, they will be kind to the kind), so I smile like a Colgate ad! And say thank you at every given point of time…"

As landing approaches, the filmmaker is already bracing for delays. "Then, an hour before we land, I am all ready (not at all ready for any circling or air traffic)… then I rush out and want to overtake every passenger like it’s a limbo race… (no particular reason at all)." He signed off by teasing that his packing idiosyncrasies will be a story for another day.



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