As Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH) celebrates its 25th anniversary, in a chat with BT, Karan Johar takes us down the memory lane of a film that launched his career as a director in Bollywood. The filmmaker talks about what went into making this movie, and the love and criticism he’s got for it over the years…

In an interview, you had said that you began working on KKHH when Dharma Productions had backed five-six movies, which hadn’t worked.

After my father’s (Yash Johar) first film Dostana (1980), he had given a series of films that had not worked commercially. I have seen the tough times he went through and the financial losses we faced. Actually, it was Yash uncle (Yash Chopra) who I consider a father figure, who had asked me to direct a film for his banner. But when I went home and told my father that, he said, ‘You are my son, and it would be nice if you directed (a film) for Dharma Productions’. I asked him if we could afford it? He had faith in me, and he said he would take a loan. He also said, ‘Karan, we will give it our best shot, but in the worst-case scenario, if the film doesn’t work, I don’t want you to keep doing something where you will continuously see failure, and that is only what I ask for’. That was the advice he gave me. 

My father was a very loved man by the industry, and everyone wanted the film to work for him, it wasn’t about me. When the film made the money, we bought our first home in Mumbai. I saw my father smile during the release of a film for the first time in many years!

I needed a sport that was interactive and looked kind of sexy when two people are playing it in close proximity. It couldn’t be cricket, football, table tennis or badminton, it had to be basketball, because you are actually playing it in a way that can be intimate between two people. Remember that scene in the second half where Anjali (Kajol) plays the game in a saree, and Rahul (SRK) is wearing a shirt and a tie? There’s something sexy about it. So yes, that’s the only reason, otherwise, I had no clue about basketball as a sport.

We were shooting in Mauritius, and I kept calling it a ‘goal’ until Shah Rukh took me aside and corrected me and said, ‘Karan there are a lot of people who are actually laughing at you because it is called a ‘basket’…you score a basket, you don’t score a goal! This isn’t football’.

Absolutely, I take it all in a good stride. I feel Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is a result of my passion for Hindi cinema and what I grew up on. I was younger and less evolved when I made the film. I was not aware of what I am today. My woke metre was zero, so, the gender politics is very questionable in the film. And yes, it can come across as superficial and there are logical loopholes. Today, I would not make those errors. I made a film like Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani recently, which has been praised for its wokeness. I didn’t have this maturity at that time. I had a different sensibility, but you grow with time. I can’t regret it because I made it with a different mindset. But I am completely in agreement with the criticism. I also want to add that there was a certain innocence with which I made Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. It was never made with a bad intention.

Each one of these films is my growth as a human being. I did Kabhi Alvida… at 31, when I had seen enough of life. I had seen people struggle in their relationships. That film came from a lot of conversations I had with my married friends at that time or people who I had seen from a distance go through relationship traumas. Ae Dil… is a piece of my own heart. I felt like I had succumbed to an unrequited love story, and it was a personal film for me. Rocky Aur Rani…, is a result of a lot of younger people that surround me on a daily basis. It’s about their thoughts on gender fluidity and equality, as well as what true feminism is. I have leveraged my observations and relationships and have always been able to create stories around them. I believe life gives you the best stories and a strongly led life will always give you amazing stories. All you have to do is open your heart and mind to those stories and you can always be a relevant filmmaker.

"I was working as an AD on Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge where Shah Rukh and I became friends. I was already close to Kajol as we have kind of grown up together. Shah Rukh and I got organically very close to each other where he became almost like my brother. When I wanted to make my first film, it was just natural that he would be a part of it. He had told me that whenever I made my first film, he would like to do it and he followed through with his promise. Thereon, it wasn’t just a relationship of a director-actor, but we became family. It is not just a legacy of love that we have created cinematically…it is also the legacy of love we all have as human beings for each other."

"Rani was worried as Shah Rukh-Kajol was an iconic pair and they had a legendary film behind them – Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. I told Rani to trust me, and she was a trooper from day one. She always says that she’s very thankful that we didn’t change her voice because in Ghulam her voice was dubbed. I always felt her voice was amazingly individualistic, and there was no way that I would want to change that."

The moment where Shah Rukh and Kajol meet after years at the summer camp. There’s this awkwardness and the sad version of the song plays in the background. In that moment, they do their signature gesture also in a very uncomfortable way. They don’t know what to say and how to say it. It is the most beautifully uncomfortable moment that I have created on screen.

That’s a tough one. How do I answer it? It’s like asking me to choose between Yash and Roohi, I can’t!

I think they are an irreplaceable cast, but if you put me in a hypothetical situation, then I would say Alia would be a great Anjali. Maybe, Janhvi (Kapoor) or Ananya (Panday) would be a great Tina. Rahul is tough… maybe Ranveer Singh.