Janhvi Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan on Koffee with Karan
Janhvi Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan had appeared on the sets of Koffee with Karan and the question on everyone’s mind was – are they really the friends that they claim to be? Well, here are a few snippets of analysis from our end – from a body language perspective.
Why this series is interesting
With a lot more episodes of Koffee with Karan’s season 7 lined up, I am pretty excited! Why do I find this series interesting, you ask? Well, on the surface it might appear to be some harmless entertainment that one can watch at the end of a hectic day, but for a person like me, this entire series has been a treasure trove of body language study. The reason is quite apparent – “stars” who are called on the show are asked probing, personal questions with the intention of making the content full of spice for the audience. And that does happen quite a few times, that after any episode is released, we see the audience gossiping about snippets from the episode. But coming back to what is interesting for me – most of the stars are not as comfortable talking about themselves because the questions can be quite personal and that is why you can see a lot of body language that is different from what the person is actually saying or confessing to. So the next time you want to improve your body language observation skills, try watching one of these episodes!
Let’s get on with analysis of the body language of the two actors who appeared together on Koffee with Karan Season 7 episode 2.
1. Synchrony from the beginning
As soon as the show begins, we see the actors seat themselves very comfortably towards each other. This is surprising because I have been observing people on this couch since a long time. In a majority of the cases, at the beginning, the guests are uptight, sit at opposite ends and face directly towards the host i.e. Karan and not each other. But in the case of these two actors, right at the start, you can see them facing towards each other with their bodies. Even their feet are pointing towards each other.
This shows comfort in being together, which is expected if they are indeed sharing a bond with each other as they are said to be. Here is an example of this – a real life couple when on the show are seated on the couch not totally oriented towards each other but rather towards the host.
This doesn’t necessarily indicate problems but just that you’ve been together for a while and you’ve grown used to each other. By staying far apart, it could indicate that couples who use this position have fallen into leading separate lives.
2. Alignment of thoughts
A lot of synchrony is visible in the two actors when they start discussing their incidents together. You can see a similar kind of excitement when they recollect memorable episodes, they are ok interrupting each other, in fact, they are even completing each other’s sentences. In terms of body language, you see them coming closer, even clapping each other’s hands and orienting directly towards one another which shows a lot of natural comfort with each other.
Mirroring is the behaviour in which one person subconsciously imitates the gesture, speech pattern, or attitude of another. Mirroring often occurs in the company of close friends or family, often going unnoticed by both parties.
A more noteworthy display of body language would be if you saw mirroring like we did when Nargis Fakhri and Frieda Pinto had visited the show.
3. Spotting discomfort
Both actors here are adjusting their clothes. Is this out of discomfort with clothes or conversation?
Let’s then get to those moments where we see the body language that is so frequent on this show – signals showing when the people are not too comfortable or feeling stressed with the questions of the host or the answers from the other guest. But to observe this body language, there is just one thing that needs to be kept in mind – most guests on the show are not too comfortable in the dresses provided to them.
Most of the times, these dresses are not their usual choice of clothes, or might not have been tried on before, which means the guest is not used to wearing the attire. There is constant adjustment of clothes happening all the time. Why is this noteworthy? Because, from the perspective of body language, adjusting clothes can also tell when the person is not comfortable with a thought or feeling in their mind. So how can we then understand whether the person is adjusting their clothes due to discomfort with the attire or with the Q&A? One hint to help you out with this – if this body language keeps getting repeated at certain points of the conversation, you can confirm why the guest is uncomfortable – it has to do with the conversation and not the attire.
5. Not totally in sync
Here is another such instance where Janhvi is saying something that Sara does not agree with. This is a moment where Sara’s reactions are telling her that there are moments when she is actually not on her friend’s side. The closed body language, expression of surprise at the answer reveal that she would have expected or done something different. This body language is different from the one mentioned in the above point, because above the reactions tell us when Sara is not agreeing, but this picture and other such instances reveal where she disagrees to the extent that she is on a different side.
6. Not entirely honest
This is the moment where Sara is asked about whom she would date. As soon as you see her answer, and that answer is pretty quick, we see a one shoulder raised upwards. This usually happens when the person is not too committed to what they are saying. Wonder how many more moments are there in this interview where she is bluffing? Well, given the nature of this series, which is to ask a lot of hypothetical and probing questions, this nature of deception can be expected. If you really want to know what body language looks like when two actors say they are friends but atleast one of them has some very different thoughts in mind, you should read our analysis of Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla on this same series. Fumbling for words, gesturing around wildly, lack of eye contact etc are some of the important body languages to look for in this context.
To conclude
So finally, are Sara and Janhvi friends or not? Well, if you watch the entire episode, you would be able to see how they are really comfortable with one another and don’t really need to “settle in”. There are times when they don’t agree with each other, but then friendship never asked for two people to be in total sync. What is not visible is any hint of animosity, jealousy or friction, and that should be good news for the fans of the two actors!
