Harshada Rege (DNA; September 15, 2016)

Every season of Koffee With Karan creates much excitement among the janta as well as in B-Town. Speculation about which guests will come on the show begins months before the shoot. While the host Karan Johar recently told fans of the show to look forward to the announcement of the line-up of guests, most B-Towners will look forward to getting an invite from the filmmaker-turned-chat show host. However, there are a few names that are likely to be missing from the guest list. Here’s who isn’t likely to partake in a fun session of gossip and banter over some coffee this season.

Ajay Devgn
The current battle between Ajay’s Shivaay and Karan’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil has ensured that the two won’t share the same stage, and the chances of them gossiping over coffee is unthinkable. For those who came in late, it all began with their movies clashing at the box office on the same day. Things got ugly when Ajay released an audio of Kamaal R Khan claiming that KJo paid him money to badmouth Shivaay. Ajay sent out a statement asking authorities to check KRK’s claim and if KJo indeed paid him. Karan has maintained a ‘no comment’ stand on the matter. Now there’s no love lost between the two camps. And anyone betting on seeing Ajay on that couch again is gonna lose big.

Kajol
With the pow-pow between her hubby and once-upon-a-time BFF, KJo, it’s not likely that Kajol will appear on the show. It was at her insistence that Ajay agreed to be a part of Karan’s show in the last season. This year she has no reason to cajole him or to do so herself. She has previously been part of almost every season and has been one of KJo’s most entertaining guests.

Akshay Kumar
It was clear that the last time he was on the show, it was going to be a one-time appearance. Twinkle, who is one of Karan’s close buddies, convinced her husband to shoot for an episode aired in the fifth season. When Karan asked him why he hadn’t been on the show so far, Akshay, in all seriousness, replied, “When we come for your show, you ask all these kinds of very controversial questions. So nobody wants to be grilled and nobody wants to get into anybody’s bad books. And don’t want to answer anything stupid that it hurts somebody’s feelings.” He just wanted to check that list and he did it last year. AK ain’t returning.

Salman Khan
Like Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, too, made an exception and made an appearance in the fourth season of the show. It was the only time he did so. No doubt it was a hilarious episode, what with Salman claiming that he was still a virgin, but it doesn’t seem likely that the actor will find himself seated on KJo’s much-coveted couch anytime soon. Because he has two releases coming up and is hardly in the city.

Hrithik Roshan
Hrithik has made multiple appearances on Koffee With Karan. The actor first shared the couch with Farhan Akhtar. The next time around, his co-guest was Priyanka Chopra, and finally, it was his now ex-wife Sussanne. However, Karan and Hrithik’s relationship is now going through a troubled patch. Sources say that Karan did not support HR as much as the actor expected him to, during the latter’s Kangana Ranaut controversy. At an event, when KJo was asked about the Hrithik-Kangana tiff, he said “No comment” which upset Duggu who expected Karan to support him. He called him and gave him an earfull and now they are sulking with each other.

Rani Mukerji
Rani, another KWK regular, has kept away from the arclights after mommyhood. The actress isn’t likely to come out of her self-imposed hiatus for the show. Also, she feels she has nothing to talk about.

*** Will she, wont’s she? ***

Kareena Kapoor Khan
Bebo is likely to be heavily pregnant by the time shooting for the show commences. That would be the main reason for her to skip the season. However, the actress, who has been getting upset at the mention of her pregnancy keeping her from doing work, might just turn up on the show to prove others wrong.

Priyanka Chopra
Karan’s desi girl in Dostana, has been on every season of the show. But now PC has been spending a lot of time in the US shooting for the second season of Quantico and then the Baywatch movie. She shuttles a lot between Mumbai and Montreal, so unless KJo manages to convince her to collect some more air miles and make a quick dash to the Maximum City to be on his couch, there’s little chance of her being on the show.