As Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham completes 25 years this year, Kajol says that a whole new generation of viewers is discovering and revisiting the films that defined her career. The actor says she has had several young people approach her after watching Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Pyaar Toh Hona Hi Tha (1998).

“There is a whole revival of the ’90s and 2000s scene that has come up,” she shares, adding, “Younger people come up to me and say, ‘Oh, we just watched K3G. We’ve just watched Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). We’ve just watched Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha (1998). What a cool film it is!’ It’s very exciting.”

Asked which character she identifies with the most, the 52-year-old quips, “Anjali from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I feel like there I was a tomboy then!”

For Kajol, the renewed interest in the era goes beyond nostalgia, with younger audiences now discovering the sensibility of films made decades ago. “There is that whole wanting to, you know, watch films like that, which were somewhere, I think, made with a lot of passion and cleanliness,” she shares. “They were kind of much more romanticized than films today. So I think people want films like that. They want to watch films like that. I hope we can make films like that till today.”

Interestingly, while a new generation is discovering her work, Kajol says her own Gen Z children, Nysa Devgn, 23, and Yug Devgn, 15, aren’t keen on watching her films. “They feel I’m a little too convincing in films and that I’m too good an actor at times!” she says.

Explaining their take, she adds, “They’re like, ‘We don’t watch your movies because we don’t want to watch our mum cry too much.’”

She jokes, “If I was a bad actor, maybe they would have seen more of my films. But because I cry so well on screen, they’re like, no, we don’t watch your movies because we don’t want to watch our mom cry too much on screen.”

Having spent decades in the industry, Kajol has also seen her share of news reports about herself, some accurate and some not. While there have been reports of her joining Atlee and Allu Arjun’s Raaka (earlier titled AA22xA6) and the Prabhas-starrer Spirit, the actor remains unfazed by what is written about her.

“I don’t pay attention to all of these news articles, really. I mean, 90% of them are all rubbish anyway,” she says, adding, “The day I do sign a film, I’m very clear about it. People will know within minutes, everybody will knows that I’m doing this.”

Filmmaker Karan Johar began his directorial journey with the iconic romantic drama Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol Devgan, with Salman Khan and Rani Mukerji in supporting roles. Recently, the filmmaker opened up about one unforgettable moment from the film, breaking down in Salman’s vanity van on the first day of shooting.

Speaking of the incident years later on a wedding wear brand’s YouTube channel, the 53-year-old director recalled, “It was my first time working with Salman, and I was… what should I say? Completely wound up because he was such a huge star. On his first day on set, I walked into his van. He was in a T-shirt and jeans. I said, ‘Salman, you know it’s a big set.’ And he replied, ‘Yes, but if for the first time a groom comes in jeans and a T-shirt, it will be a new style. I’ll bring the swag.’ I got so hyped but also so stressed thinking, ‘If he comes in jeans and a T-shirt, what will happen?’ I ended up crying right there in his vanity van.”

Karan continued, “Salman looked nervous seeing me cry and finally said, ‘No, no, I’ll wear the suit.’ And that’s how we shot my first-ever sangeet song sequence.”

Faith over fear — this principle has guided filmmaker Rohan Kanawade up to this point. His maiden feature film, Sabar Bonda, won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema: Dramatic category at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Despite the win, the director wasn’t sure whether his romantic drama would be picked up for a theatrical release. Today, his faith in the movie has trumped his fear as actor and producer Rana Daggubati is bringing Sabar Bonda to theatres. “I didn’t know it would be this quick,” he chuckles.

“I know it’s very difficult to get a theatrical release nowadays. So many of my filmmaker friends have made their movies and they aren’t getting distribution. So, it was scary when we were making Sabar Bonda. But with all these people joining it, the release will be stronger,” he says, happy to have the support of filmmakers Vikramaditya Motwane, Nikkhil Advani, Nagraj Manjule, and actor Sai Tamhankar who have come on board as executive producers.

Starring Bhushaan Manoj and Suraaj Suman, the Marathi movie revolves around Anand who falls in love with Balya when he visits his ancestral village during the mourning period of his father’s demise. With Kanawade giving us a tender queer romance, we ask him about the love stories that influenced him in his childhood.

“My dad used to take us to watch films all the time. So, I used to watch all the Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, and Shah Rukh Khan films. I cried when I watched Kuch Kuch Hota Hai [1998],” he recalls. 

But if there was a film that aroused his curiosity about what goes on behind the camera, it was the Marathi classic, Maherchi Sadi (1991). “While all the women in the audience were crying for Alka Kubal’s character, I asked my father all about the projector and kept on looking at all those colourful rays coming out of it.” 

If the seeds of filmmaking were sown that day, they were further nurtured by Marathi filmmakers Jabbar Patel, Sumitra Bhave, and cinema legend Satyajit Ray, whose works Kanawade devoured.

“I realized how differently you can tell stories. There is not only one way to tell a story — I saw that in films made by these filmmakers. Sometimes if you feel jealous of other filmmakers, it inspires you to push yourself.”

Fear is another emotion he has come to terms with. “When you are writing something new, you have fears. But you have to force yourself to make what you want to.”

Actress and comedian Archana Puran Singh, presently seen as part of Kapil Sharma’s show, in an exclusive chat with us shared how she doesn’t mind jokes on herself. The Kuch Kuch Hota Hai actress also shared about her acting offers, how comedy has evolved over the years and her sons. Read on...

While one may find the jibes and jokes cracked by Kapil Sharma on his show on Archana Puran Singh offensive, the show host and actress says she doesn’t mind the jokes he cracks at her expense. “About 17 years ago Kapil and I started our journey together when he was a contestant in a show that I was judging, called Comedy Circus. There is a mutual regard and respect we have for each other that nothing can shake or break. When he made fun of me and made wisecracks at me I used to find it highly amusing that he has the guts to do this to a ‘judge’ who he knows will eventually be awarding marks at the end of the act. His irreverent humour combined with his actual in-person respect is what made his wise cracks so endearing to me. He always apologized profusely to me, sometimes before the act or sometimes after the act... ki ‘ma’am aap itne sportingly le lete ho humaare punches aur hum aapko bahut pyar karte hain’.”

“It is the same equation we share that allows him to take pot shots at me even today on The Kapil Sharma Show (TKSS); he knows what creates humour on stage and I know that he means no personal disrespect for me when he is delivering punches aimed at me,” says Archana, adding, “How can I, who herself is known for her comedy, not understand that this is all in fun and not to be taken seriously at all? He is a huge star today but he still accords me the same respect of a junior towards a senior and we value that combination of love, respect, mutual admiration and love for irreverent humour that is the most tickling kind of humour personally for me. Now people love the fact that Kapil takes off on me and then I give it back to him and he calls me his 'saasu ma' or 'jethani' for making jibes at him... it has in fact become an organic part of the show and the audiences wait for our little 'nok-jhonk' in all episodes. I also hope through me a lot of people learn to take jokes in their stride and to not take offense when something is said merely to create humour.”

Archana says that even her family enjoys the jokes cracked by Kapil on her and her family. “In fact often Parmeet jokes himself and says he should get royalty payment for all the jokes Kapil has cracked on him,” she says.

Archana hasn’t been seen in too many films or web shows apart from TKSS in recent times. Ask her if offers have stopped coming her way or she is not accepting any and she says, “Films stopped coming to me since my dates schedule was fully taken up by The Kapil Show. But now, since the show has shifted to a web platform, we have an easier schedule and that allows us time in between. But initially TKSS left me with little time for films or OTT when it was on the GEC. I have refused many films at that time and as an actor, I had felt terrible that I had to make a choice between being an actor or being on the show. But I’m now happy to have a balance of both films as well as OTT,” she says.

The one character that everyone remembers of Archana is of Miss Braganza in the Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol and Rani Mukerji starrer Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Mention that and the actress says she is so happy that a character she played has become almost iconic. “I never fully realized just how iconic the chatacter of Ms Braganza was till I realised that even the new generation is obsessed by it and is also able to recite my dialogues at the drop of a hat. It almost becomes embarrassing because I myself hardly recall what I said in the film. Nonetheless it is heartwarming to see how much people love the character and it stillis such a loved character. And I don’t want to spoil the fun but there maybe a surprise coming in the next few months; but ssshhhhhh, mums the word for now,” she says with a laugh.

Archana, who has been part of quite a few comedy shows and also comic characters feels comedy and humour is not getting its due freedom of speech and is not evolving as it should. “There is a certain amount of self censorship that is expected of all comedies nowadays and to me that seems a little less freedom than what one had earlier. Today one has to be very politically correct because terms like ‘misogyny’ and ‘rascism’ are familiar ones and trolls on social media are quick to use them in attacking comic artistes. There is a newfound ‘wokeness’ that advocates sensitivity to topics that earlier used to be fodder for comedy. I’m not saying that one should be insensitive in comedy but at the same time if one cannot poke fun at society and certain taboo topics then it is difficult to create humour because showing irreverence for typically sacred subjects is at the core for a certain type of satire or humour. I feel without a certain amount of freedom of speech humour gets curtailed which further curtails its growth or evolution,” says Archana.

Mother to two sons, Archana hopes that her sons too see success as actors in the industry. Although the young men do seek advise from their parents, Archana says, she and her husband have let the boys carve their own destiny. “My sons Aaryamann and Ayushmaan are both keen in making a career as actors and they have both studied acting in New York. In fact Ayushmaan has even performed in Atul Mongia’s directorial short film titled Friends. Both Aary and Ayush are auditioning regularly for several casting agents in Mumbai and have been short listed for more than a few roles each. Let’s see which one bags a role first! Over time, I’ve seen them grow into young, confident and competent actors so it is only a matter of time before they are seen on a screen. Parmeet and I leave them to find their own way in the industry. There is huge competition now and they will have to struggle to find their own footing but that is a challenge which they will have to face and win on their own steam,” she says.

What is common to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan and Haseen Dilruba (2021)? It’s a small station named Apta, located two hours from the city, with hills and greenery all around. These four are among a host of Bollywood films that have used the picturesque location of Apta to shoot scenes from the film.

And it’s not just Apta. A host of railway stations in and around Mumbai – Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) being the chief among them – has provided a colourful, evocative backdrop for Hindi cinema over the years.

“Most production houses, celebrities, support staff and equipment are in Mumbai. If it is a regular railway track or train scene, shooting around Mumbai is budget-friendly and time-saving,” says Isha Inamdar, who works for an agency that handles such permissions that production houses require.

A Western Railway (WR) official tells us that the trains used in the movies are spare, but working trains, which are usually used as a replacement for routine trains, in case of emergency or maintenance work.

The railways charge Rs. 2 lakh for a one-day shoot. Since 2016, Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) earned over Rs. 7 crore and Rs. 4 crore respectively from film shoots. During its release, Gully Boy was among the highest spenders with Western Railway, paying over Rs. 15 lakh for the shoot. For Central Railway, the Rajinikanth film Darbaar was a huge revenue generator, running up bills to the tune of Rs. 22 lakh plus. Even in the pandemic, WR earned Rs. 67 lakh from shoots in 2021-22. This number went up to Rs. 1.64 crore in the FY 2022-23.

Apart from stations, film crews want to incorporate other locations within railway premises in their shoots. For example, movies such as The Lunchbox, Airlift, Phantom and Gabbar Is Back were filmed inside the Churchgate administrative office of WR to show a typical government office with files and papers stacked on desks. “Offices are usually closed on Sundays and public holidays, so permission to shoot inside the office is only given on holidays,” says a WR official, adding that the rise in OTT content has meant that they are getting more applications for shooting shows and docus on railway premises.

Railway car sheds and yards are the chosen locations for shooting fight scenes, with scenes from movies like Force, Judwaa 2, Commando 3 and others being shot in the yards. “These locations are popular as they have the feel of old godowns and British-era structures,” adds a Central Railway official.

"We scrutinize the script to ensure there are no scenes that show smoking, anti-railway or anti-government scenes, consumption of alcohol or drugs. Depending on the requirements of the shoot, permission for a location is granted within two days," says Sumit Thakur, CPRO, Western Railway.

Rani Mukerji isn’t big on Bollywood romance movies that do not talk about a woman’s wants and choices, and says that in that aspect, films like Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna or Hum Tum were way ahead of their time.

While Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna was not that big a hit at the time, it raised uncomfortable questions, says Rani. “I think it is important to always stand by strong films and strong roles. Sometimes, you may not get the (right) audience, but in the history of Indian cinema, it will always be remembered as a film that was ahead of its time,” she said during a discussion about her characters.

“I work hard towards making my characters real – in terms of how they walk, how they talk – because I firmly believe that body language makes a huge difference in terms of how you perceive a particular person. Fifty per cent of an actor’s battle to make the character believable lies in the appearance. If you look the character visually, half the battle is won, and the other half is what you need to perform. I can be Tina (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai) and also be Alisha (from Ghulam), and I can also be Michelle (from Black).”

It is very important to talk about a woman’s wants and her choices. Just because the husband doesn’t beat you, it does not mean that you are in love with him. I think people give less importance to a woman being in love. What is important for a lot of people and their families is – is the man settled? Is he from a good family? But physical chemistry is not given too much importance. It’s like a man can choose that, but a woman is never allowed to or asked, ‘Are you attracted to this man?’ ‘Would you like to marry him?’

A lot of people were watching the film in extreme discomfort because nobody wants to face their own reality. That is the feedback Karan (Johar) received for his film. It opened the eyes of a lot of people, and they took the decision of being happy. The film was very different from what we are taught – that you have to compromise and adjust, and of course we have to, but there should (also) be love in the relationship. Because even in a relationship of love, there will be compromises, marriage as it is very demanding; and if you are in a marriage that is loveless then it becomes even more difficult.

For Naina (from Hichki), I had to meet a lot of people who had Tourette syndrome. I also did an interview with Brad Cohen, who was the inspiration behind Hichki. To play a character, it is also important to know what and how that person thinks or feels emotionally. At the end of the day, we are portraying emotions that touch the audience. What distinguishes a scene is the emotion that comes from behind the scene. When a writer writes a scene, he is actually writing what a character is going through, and for me, it is very important to portray those emotions.

The audience has kept me going for the last 27 years, and I hope they keep me going for the next 27… My audience has helped me break the age barrier and I promise my audience that I will act till I’m 80. No actor should be judged on the basis of their age. I think it is only because our cinema is known as popular cinema, and you want to see young people all the time. The trick is also to accept that you are not always going to look young.

(Black made me realize) that there is nothing impossible, but we condition ourselves to believe that there are things we cannot do. Our attitude in life should be that we have to make this possible. And that’s what Black did for me; it transformed me as a human. Sanjay Leela Bhansali makes it a point to bring out the best in you and transports the audience.

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We’ve come to expect witty one-liners and wisecracks from Karan Johar. But in the latest season of Koffee With Karan, the filmmaker has shown a more emotional and vulnerable side to him. He continued in the same vein as he shot for the grand finale of India’s Got Talent 8 earlier this week. As part of the episode, the six finalists celebrated Johar’s 25 years in cinema, through their acts—a gesture that left him moved.

The filmmaker, who recently enjoyed a smash hit in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, reflected on his successful run in the industry, attributing it to his late producer-father Yash Johar’s goodwill.

“When my father entered the industry, he received love and respect, and made many films, but he didn’t get the success he should have received. When my first film [Kuch Kuch Hota Hai] was released, I felt that the entire industry prayed that it work for my father’s sake. It has been 19 years since he left us. Whatever I have achieved, it’s all because of his goodwill and blessings. Whenever I am going through tough times, I feel that he gives me strength.”

Calling mother Hiroo Johar “a strong presence” in his life, the filmmaker revealed that she watches India’s Got Talent for judge Kirron Kher. “Whenever I sit with my mother to watch the show, she always notices the sarees Kirron-ji wears. It drives me crazy when she demands the exact jewellery that Kirron-ji is wearing in the episode.”

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.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai clocks 25 years today and actor Rani Mukerji, who played Tina in the film, says it feels “truly surreal because these are the people (the cast and crew) who I literally started my career with”. She adds, “What gives me immense happiness is the fact that we are such close friends. We are like family, whether it is my relationship with Karan (Johar; director) or Shah Rukh (Khan; actor).”

The film featured SRK, Kajol and her in the lead roles and Mukerji, 45, says she wasn’t sure if people would accept her alongside SRK on screen: “Right after I heard the narration, I shared a concern with Karan. I told him since Shah Rukh and Kajol were a part of DDLJ (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge; 1995) that was an iconic hit, would the audience accept Shah Rukh’s character — Rahul — falling in love with Tina? He said, ‘You don’t worry about it. As long as you are doing the film, you leave that worry to me’.”

Mukerji recalls shooting the title track in Scotland. “Karan was shooting our honeymoon shots. He saw that I wasn’t wearing a mangalsutra. He asked Manish (Malhotra; designer) for it, but since he didn’t carry one, Manish told my mum, ‘Aunty, aapka mangalsutra de do’. I wore my mum’s mangalsutra and shot,” she ends.

It was a dream come true as a child, to work with superstars like Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol and as DDLJ was huge, I knew that they were a hit pair. Also, shooting for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was like being in Disneyland for 20 days for all the kids. I was around six when I shot for the film, and it was during my summer vacations, so there were no issues of missing school. On days we didn’t shoot, we used to play games, puzzles and colouring books. I remember it used to be so much fun shooting the dance scenes. Choreographer Farah Khan and her dance troupe always made me do funny things. SRK was talking to all the kids, and he asked me about my birthday and realised that we share the same birth date (November 2). My parents often accompanied me on shoots, and my dad even played carom with SRK when he had the time.

All the young people that I meet today, still say the most famous dialogue from the film: ‘Rifat bi, mera pehla pyaar adhura reh gaya’. We thoroughly enjoyed the filming, but never expected that it was going to be so fresh even after 25 years. I remember the scene where Kajol is playing basketball and I accidentally got hit with the ball. Karan gave her such a dressing down ki, ‘How dare you do it? You must have done it deliberately’. She started clarifying and apologized to me. Kajol was a tomboy and Karan used to say, ‘Thank God she is a tomboy, it helps in the first half, but how am I going to handle her in the second half?’ Also, I can’t forget those beautiful Lucknowi suits that (designer) Manish Malhotra gave me. Karan literally wanted me to take them home, as they were made for me. Now I regret not listening to my director. I wish I had brought back at least one costume (laughs).

I was just eight when Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was shot, and honestly, I had no idea what was happening. Even when I was a child, I used to say that my favourite actor is Shah Rukh Khan. I kind of had an idea that I really like this actor and I’m getting to work with him. And now when I look back, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I played his daughter!’ The scene where SRK forgets to wear his pants, and is in his boxers, we were all laughing so much that we could barely say our lines. And when he says, ‘Driver pant nikaalo’ instead of ‘Gaadi nikaalo’, I don’t know if he did that on purpose, but I do think it was not a part of the script. I think it wasn’t his line, it just came out at the moment. It was so hilarious.

We were in Mauritius and I remember, Karan used to regale us with cheesy couplets like, ‘Aakash mein udd rahe hain kabootar, flutter flutter, flutter flutter’. Also, my older son, Aryaman, was just two at that time. One day, Kajol picked him up during breakfast, kissed and hugged him; he grinned and forced her to put him down. He wiped his face, and I was like, ‘It’s Kajol. One day you’re going to grow up and say wow’. Anupam also used to take him for walks in the garden. Location shoots were really intimate, and we all felt really sad when the schedule was over.

Back when Karan Johar was 15, having just finished his Class X, his mother, Hiroo, received a call from her friend, popular television director Aanand Mahendroo (Dekh Bhai Dekh).

Mahendroo had heard that Hiroo’s son is “extra plus-size,” as Karan puts it, and asked her if he might want to act in his TV show. That’s the sort of “large kid” he was looking for.

Karan was on his summer holidays. He’d only done school-level dramatics. But, why not? He went over from his Malabar Hill home to the far suburbs, to meet Mahendroo, who wasn’t in office. He waited for “four hours, doing nothing”.

Next to him, also waiting in the same room, was a slightly older bloke—sipping tea, engrossed in solving a crossword. No chit-chat or eye-contact. Soon as director Mahendroo entered his office, he spoke to this gentleman first. That conversation lasted hardly a minute.

Mahendroo offered the person a part in a TV series. The gentleman casually shot back, “No, I don’t want to do TV. I liked the tea. And stayed to finish my crossword!” And he flipped, and left. “Crazy! You know who he was? The actor from Fauji,” Mahendroo told Karan.

Meaning, Shah Rukh Khan (SRK). That’s how Karan met (or did not meet) SRK, first. Mahendroo offered Karan the teenaged part that he had in mind for him.

This involved shooting, for fun, during the holidays, at RK Studio, along with kids his age. The show was the much-loved Indradhanush (1989)—sci-fi, on Sunday Doordarshan, about a group of children, who discover a time machine.

That chubby boy, Srikant, in the group, was how many of a certain vintage would’ve first seen Karan Johar on screen. Only, they don’t remember, or realise it. It’s a legit trivia question. “Yeah, my acting career essentially started with Indradhanush, and ended with Bombay Velvet (2015),” Karan, 51, mock-sighs now.

While this was a summer activity for him, Indradhanush came out only a couple of years later. By when, he was already in the final year of junior college (Class XII). Kids randomly started ragging him, once he came on TV.

“Hello? I’m your senior, what’re you ragging me for,” he told them. The other person going through a similar experience in the same junior college was Jugal Hansraj (popular child-actor from Masoom, 1983).

Karan says, “Jugal had done some ad for MBD Books: ‘For me, for you, MBD Books’! Those days, if you borrowed a VHS tape, you’d always see Jugal doing this ad. Him and I got ostracised in college together!”

Since we’re on a trivia trail—besides that they’re friends from college, what’s the pop-culture connect between Jugal and Karan?

The hook line of the film’s title-track, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH, 1998)? Well, Jugal Hansraj composed that earworm. To the best of our knowledge, he hasn’t composed anything for public consumption since. “He says he chose to retire at the top,” Karan laughs. 

The love-triangle, KKHH, that opened in theatres on October 16, 1998, was Karan’s directorial debut, starring SRK. SRK and Karan, as is well-known, became friends, when the latter (22 then) was assisting Aditya Chopra on Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ, 1995).

Ever since, Karan’s done multiple films with SRK in the lead, signifying a career combo of sorts—Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (K3G, 2001), Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK, 2006), My Name is Khan (MNIK, 2010). 

That number crosses way over a dozen, if you factor in co-productions, and SRK’s cameos—including Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (Ae Dil…, 2016), or the colossal Brahmastra (2022).

Given SRK is arguably the highest paid movie-star in India, I wonder what he charges, when he drops in for a cameo. Karan claims, not a buck: “Not for Ae Dil… Nor for Brahmastra, for which he shot for 14 days! But that is our relationship.”

Surely, the superstar would have been paid in kind; expensive return gifts, perhaps? A Cadillac, maybe? None of that, or so Karan says: “I give him clothes. I don’t think he has ever asked me for money, even for a film that he has done [as lead].

“Whatever is given, is given. Our contracts with Shah Rukh read: ‘It was a pleasure working with you. Thank you so much!’ That’s the contract. There is no contract!”

No piece of paper? “I don’t have anything detailed on paper. Whether it is with Adi [Chopra], or Shah Rukh—I will do anything that is asked of me [as well]. I am here, because of them. How can I forget that? Loyalty is the most required quality in a person, and it rarely exists.”

“I remember when Shah Rukh was shooting for RA.One [2011], he had a double unit. He called me to shoot [the second unit] for six days, because [director] Anubhav [Sinha] was doing a big action sequence. And he needed simple patch-work kind of scenes shot. I flew from Bombay, and did it. These are not big deals.”

Karan’s latest film, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (RARKPK, 2023), was his seventh feature, after a gap of seven years, in his 25th year at the movies as director. He says, “I keep hearing it as a comeback, which makes me sound like Mumtaz, who returned after many years in America [with David Dhawan’s Aandhiyan, 1990]!

“I spent three years on Takht [a film that didn’t work out, apparently for financial reasons]. Maybe, three years went on PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]. Another two years on the pandemic. But I’ve always been here.”

RARKPK is also his first directorial, without SRK in any form (SRK was co-producer on Student of the Year). There are probably also other firsts—such as his maiden movie shot entirely in India? “Yes.” First directorial that’s actually LOL funny? “I think so. There were funny moments in all other movies, but this one is funny up to a large point, and funny even after.”

Even if you’ve seen the blockbuster, what is RARKPK about? Let’s step back a bit. To start with, about a man, with an artistic bent, born into a business family, where he’s unlikely to succeed, as a result. The family deals in making and selling sweets, in Delhi. That’s Dharmendra’s character, isn’t it?

Only that it’s evidently inspired by Karan’s late father, Yash Johar, when you consider that young Yash was similarly inclined to the arts, i.e. photography. 

His family business was based in Delhi. And they made and sold sweets. Just that the company wasn’t called Dhanlakshmi. Karan recalls, “I have no clue why our family shop in Delhi was called Nanking, which is the name of a Chinese restaurant in every Indian town. We sold sweets with that name!”

Upon learning about Yash’s evident lack of interest in the family business, and an artistic ambition instead, his mother, as in Karan’s grandmom—“we called her Mataji”—asked Yash to head to Bombay. Soon as he arrived in Bombay, he landed an internship with The Times of India as a photographer.

“This took him to several sets, like Mughal-e-Azam, and other films,” which is the industry he switched to, working his way up, “starting out as ground manager, then production manager, and eventually, production controller—to working for Navketan Films, for 12 years—and being the only production controller to get front-roll credit.

“Everybody in the film industry knew and loved him: Dev Anand, Vijay Anand, Raj Kapoor, K Asif, Sunil Dutt… Everybody had worked with him.”

Perhaps the insecure/seasonal nature of films as an industry did not suit Yash, after a point. That’s when, Karan says, Yash took a sabbatical, and eventually started an import-export firm, named Yash One Exports, which, in turn, became Karan’s family business.

“We were middle agents for material like wrought iron, that would go to a place called Pier Imports, in Paris and New York, sourced from Faridabad and Saharanpur. It was a very stable income.”

The movie-bug, I suppose, is a hard one to swat or suppress for too long. Karan says, “It was Ramesh Behl [father of Srishti and Goldie Behl] of Rose Movies, who got my father back into films. That’s how he approached the writers Salim-Javed, who had a script.”

Thus, Raj Khosla’s Dostana (1980), starring Amitabh Bachchan, was born. He adds, “Ironically, my mom and Amit uncle had gone to [boarding] school together—he was in Sherwood, and she was at St Mary’s, which is the sister school.”

Who funded Yash’s maiden production? The Hinduja family, namely S P Hinduja. What was S P Hinduja’s son called? Dharam. This is how Dharma Productions gets its name: “Yup, that’s how the journey began 43 years ago!”

By all means a boutique beginning. Which is also a fair assessment of how today’s insiders are often, if not inevitably, yesterday’s outsiders.

The insider-outsider debate having hounded Karan over the past few years, with extensive trolling online, over supposedly favouring film industry kids, so to say, over a huge horde of aspirants, who set foot in Mumbai, without any filial connections to assist them in finding the proverbial foot in the filmy door.

This is what got termed the “nepotism debate”, with Karan allegedly at its fountainhead. Later in the conversation, he points out, “Between features, ad films, digital arm, and talent management agency—at any point in time, Dharma has an employer base of 800 to 1,000 people. And we make sure they are well taken care of. Now, 98 per cent of them are not from the industry.

“Why is this data not talked about? Why are we talking about that one star/industry kid getting an opportunity? What about the other thousand, contributing massively?

But if you want to make a narrative that works negatively, you will make any narrative. The negativity is on whoever is making the narrative. Not on me. Honestly, I haven’t, and I will not apologize for anything. Also, I will cast who I feel is right. If that person happens to be related to somebody in the industry, then so be it.”

Around 2005, I had asked Karan, during an interview, why he makes films. The answer was along the lines of the usual, which is to create worlds, tell stories. What he didn’t get, he told me then, is why he produces movies. And that it can be a really thankless job, at times. I wonder if he feels the same, almost two decades later.

He says, “Around then, I think we had produced Kaal (2005). Things have changed since. Unlike then, now, we have active producers, with credits, on the set, working on the logistics and tough stuff, which is really tough.

Apurva [Mehta; Dharma CEO], of course, is in the thick of things—he is the fulcrum of the studio. I am creatively jamming, sitting on rushes, final edit, all the fun stuff. That’s why I’m very happy to produce multiple films.”

Nikkhil Advani’s Kal Ho Naa Ho (KHNH, 2003), also an SRK starrer, was in fact Karan’s first film as producer, while he had also written its script. Nikkhil had assisted Karan on KKHH and K3G. They were also friends from school.

Subsequent to KKHH, Nikkhil left Dharma. Recently, he went on record to suggest how the rather public bad-blood between them had cost him three years of no work—deemed an industry pariah of sorts, therefore.

To which Karan responds, “I didn’t know if it was a gap of three years that he got no work. The fallout is too far gone, firstly. I attribute my knowledge of cinema and camera grammar to him. I was quite clueless on my first film. I just knew mid-shot, wide-shot and close-up. He mentored my technique. I will be forever grateful to him for that. But we are wonderful now, when we meet—exchanging shared nostalgia and memories. We had a creative fallout. It was a time that he was hurting. I was hurting. It was at an unfortunate time, because my father was very critical [during the making of KKHH].”

Beyond expanding his company, Dharma, into a legit creative force in Bollywood, Karan’s contribution on the business side could well be as a case-study on personal branding. After Subhash Ghai in the 1980s, I can’t think of too many filmmakers, altogether behind the camera, who became a recognisable face, among the public.

How many directors in the world do you know who actively endorse so many products, from laptops, paint, to soups and sunglasses! This naturally extends to brand ownerships too. Neuma, the restaurant that replaced the iconic Indigo, in South Bombay, is associated with him.

He informs he has a jewellery brand, Tiyaani. “There are several things I’m invested. Both with people and products, I go by instinct.” He’s more so a proper pop-icon to the point that, as they said in the good ol’ Tata Steel commercial, from back in the day—he also makes films.

This public-facing side, he remembers, really kickstarted with picking up gongs for KKHH, at award shows, in 1999: “I was giving these long, eloquent speeches, that were shown on television. Then, in February, 2001, Pradeep Guha and Khalid Mohamed, who worked for The Times of India, asked me to host the Filmfare Awards. I did it for free, because it was, I thought, a great opportunity.”

He hosted the Filmfare Awards for free? Surely, Filmfare was making enough money from it! “Well, they didn’t pay me in 2001. Subsequently, I have been paid by the same organisation, and I’m very grateful for it.

2003 onwards, for four years in a row, I hosted the Zee Awards, on primetime. And then in 2004, I started [the catty chat-show] Koffee With Karan, on Star World, which made me further a recognizable face.”

Koffee With Karan has had seven seasons on Star network since. Strangely, Karan doesn’t own the intellectual property: “If they want, they can have Karan Thapar host it. And maybe I could still do Conversations with Karan!” I’m guessing, it could be spelt with a ‘C’. Karan’s own numerological fascination with the letter ‘K’ for all his film titles stopped, once his production Kurbaan (2009), after Kaal (2005), didn’t perform at the box-office.

My needless peeve with Koffee With Karan, though, is how it may have ruined interviewing skills of film journalists, in particular! Wherein they get access to some of the finest talents/minds. And they waste that opportunity playing ‘rapid fire rounds’ with them, rather than actually mining experiences, or picking brains. This tic-tac rapid-fire stuff is all over my Instagram Reels, really.

Karan says, “The other problem is when they have a checklist of 12 questions, and I can see them going back to it, while you are rambling away. The person [at the other end] just nods, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure, sure…’ They just go on to their next question. Well, an interview is when someone listens!”

This hour-and-half long conversation (available unedited on YouTube), as part of the Sit with Hitlist series, with a live-audience of mid-day journalists, took place about 10 days after the release of RARKPK.

The film, noticeably, being the cooler-talk in the office, leading up to this chat. Given that it’s a newsroom, one of the things loudly discussed was how Karan has portrayed his lead character, Rani (Alia Bhatt), a journalist herself, dressed in the fanciest sarees in the film. Who wears that to work? He points to three women in the room!

The other time he’s had a journalist in the lead was Rani Mukerji, playing a newspaper editor, in the short films’ anthology, Bombay Talkies (2013). Was the Rani of Rocky Aur Rani named after this Rani, by the way?

“No. But this Rani and that Rani are both derived from a member of the media called Poonam Saxena. She’s always in a saree, and I found that wonderful. I love the saree, per se.”

Delhi-based journalist Poonam Saxena, incidentally, also co-wrote Karan’s memoir, An Unsuitable Boy. My instant memory from that 2016 book is Karan writing candidly about his dating life, or lack thereof, in terms of how difficult it is to be rich/famous, and meet new people. And that he hired a professional agency, based in London, to suitably match him with potential dates across the world.

“That process is still on. It has been a couple of years. I have been on telephonic dates, Zoom dates, during the pandemic, and some dates, physically, in person. Because the people are all over the world, so you meet, when you land up being in the same city. It hasn’t landed anywhere!”

The reason, it appears, is professional: “We live in a world—and I can speak for myself—that is impossible for people who aren’t in it to understand. I love my work so much. The rest of the time I devote to my children and mum. I don’t know where’s the place to find [for another person]. And I don’t want an unequal relationship, where the other person is just following my diary.”

This, I can vouch for Karan, despite his multiple professional forays. There are only two people in Hindi cinema I’ve known, over years, who are likely to respond to a work text (in this case, by a journalist) almost soon as you’ve sent it—one is Amitabh Bachchan; the other, Karan. Surely there are others too, but none likely to be half as busy as both. “I have what you call/message reply anxiety,” Karan says.

That said, he’s himself been in an unequal relationship, or unrequited love, as it were. And that he got his “most personal and angsty film” out of (Ae Dil…). I wonder if the person he based that “ek tarfa pyar” picture on, actually saw it. And what did he say? “Yeah. It was initially awkward, because his character [Anushka Sharma] also dies in the end!” 

This one-sided relationship lasted about eight years for Karan. It taught him never to get into one: “Love can make you and break you. It can tear you apart. The pain is physical, not symbolic.” The said person is very part of his “ecosystem; but thankfully, not from the [film] industry, otherwise it would be too messy. 

“There was a polarised opinion on the last act of Ae Dil… But the GenZ got it. Because they’re going through this intense, crazy, mad love. I just found it in my late 30s, that carried on till the 40s!”

Ranbir Kapoor played ‘Karan Johar’ in Ae Dil... The character is diametrically opposite to Rockstar Ranveer Singh aka Rocky Randhawa—“West Delhi guy, who wears his heart and Gucci on his sleeves”—in RARKPK. As actors too, apart from similar sounding names, Karan reckons, Ranveer and Ranbir, two of Bollywood’s best, have nothing in common, besides genius-level talent.

“Ranbir is a producer’s delight. He can be on the set for 16 years straight. He feeds off the director. Ranveer feeds off the world. For Rocky, he spent days in Delhi, interacting with local influencers, including hanging out at a West Delhi party.”

That’s fine, but really, what nectar of life is Ranveer inhaling to be turbo-charged, 24x7? “I’m surprised he’s not a Gemini. There are two people living inside him. The second person, you will never see—he barely hangs out. He’s conserving his energy to explode, once he is out, with his characters, and at events!” 

Not to forget his onscreen partner, Alia Bhatt. RARKPK was their second film after Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy (2019). The alchemy is insane: “Well, that comes from familiarity. They’re genuine friends, which make for great onscreen chemistry; like Shah Rukh and Kajol. Unlike actual couples, who are so comfy with each other, that they have to conceal it on the screen!”

Before the release of RARKPK, Karan confesses, he was a nervous wreck, in a way that he’s never been before. His therapist diagnosed this could be late reaction to traumatic events. One of which, of course, was the merciless trolling he went through, especially after actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, in June, 2020.

Karan quit X (formerly known as Twitter) in October, 2022: “When I read abuses against my children, that was it. And who all do you speak among faceless, nameless people, and some with strange names, too?”

The “big ball of anxiety” also had to do with film RARKPK itself: “It’d taken me back to the syntax and DNA of what I began [filmmaking] with. For some reason, my confidence was at an all-time low. When K3G came out the same year as Gadar, Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, there were some saying that people have moved on! I didn’t want that to happen.”

Opinions certainly matter to Karan: “If we don’t get validation from the people that surround us, we will feel alienated.” The night before the release, once positive texts from the press show began pouring into his WhatsApp inbox, he felt mighty relieved, even surprised.

For, he believes, “My reputation precedes me—this guy dancing on reality shows, hosting talk shows, wearing mother’s clothes, can’t make a good film! We did a deep dive on the Internet for the trolling I get. These were the things that came out. Am I going to change for it? Be someone else? No. Critics will turn around.”

On the sly, Karan is pretty much a film critic himself—although only over a restricted WhatsApp group of eight film folk—“it’s an eclectic blend,” he clarifies.

He posts lengthy/detailed reviews of every films he watches—“I write the best in that group. What we share there is sacrosanct. It can’t be forwarded. And the reviews can go from love to WTF! I’ve even reviewed my own film [production] once.”

Speaking of pre-opening jitters, actually the saddest WTF moment for Karan may have well been 10 days before the release of Ae Dil… He dropped what looked like a hostage video, apologising for casting Pakistani star, Fawad Khan, in his film. Given the timing, in the wake of Uri attacks, and hostile Indo-Pak relations.

He admits, “Anything for a filmmaker, outside of the film, right before its release, is hurtful. There was pain. I really don’t want to get into the politics and optics of it. But even seven years later, I carry the baggage of that situation. When I go back in time, I feel disturbed. The same thing happened around My Name is Khan.”

That there were no extraneous issues to fire-fight before RARKPK, Karan feels, must’ve given him time to take on a more real pressure: “Weirdly, I’ve had a tough time, during my directorial releases. Dad passed away during KHNH. Yash Chopra passed away the same week as Student of the Year…”

We’ve saved the most chilling account for the last. Consider the release of his debut film—25 years of which he celebrates in October, 2023. As in the première of KKHH. Which was held where? Liberty Cinema. That’s how he wanted it—both DDLJ and Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) had similarly opened first at the South Bombay theatre.

Where was Karan, during his own premiere? Locked up in a room, in the theatre, while the screening was on, and his assistants Nikkhil and Tarun Mansukhani took turns to update him on audience’s reactions.

Shortly before the release of KKHH, the underworld had called his father to stall the film’s release. The police, offering protection, had promised that the show must go on. Given the threat, Karan was kept away from the premiere screening itself.

Post the show, the party moved to Khyber restaurant, nearby: “There, they said we have a [tallied guest] list. But six uninvited people have entered [the venue]. Now, it could have been just six gatecrashers. But that night, my father said we are leaving the country. At 4 am, my mum, dad and I, three scared people, left for London.

“First, we settled into a tiny apartment in a discreet location. My mother, somewhere secretly, was hoping that if this film is not a big hit. You know, it’s fine!” Better not to call attention with success.

Karan watched KKHH first, with the public, at a large London single-screen cinema, where he saw “300 people leaving, during the interval.” His heart sank.

“My mother mentioned the audiences have left, maybe, with a tinge of some happiness! My father said, that’s not possible. He walked outside and there was a huge line in the ladies’ washroom. He asked why there was such a crowd. They said, ‘Can’t you see, our mascara is off. We have cried so much!’”

The following Tuesday, from a London phone booth, Karan found the courage to call up Aditya Chopra, whose Yash Raj Films was distributing KKHH: “Adi asked me: what is the most expensive thing you want to buy? I said, I want to move to a bigger house with mom and dad. He said: So, come back to Bombay, and buy the biggest house—your movie is a blockbuster!” 

Sensational. And since this is Karan’s silver jubilee script from his own life, should it not star SRK in the lead. He adds, “There was an actual dream I would always have of the great Shammi Kapoor, emerging in a Mercedes, at my movie’s première. Which actually happened at the Liberty Cinema, with KKHH. 

Shah Rukh knew about this dream of mine. The moment Shammi Kapoor came in, he went inside [the theatre], and brought me out of the [secluded] room [into the foyer]. So, I saw that happen.

I had tears in my eyes, because it was literally my dream getting realised. Shah Rukh said: ‘You stand here. You watch this moment. Nothing will happen. I will take the bullet for you’.”

The year 2022 ended on a high note for Sana Saeed, who took to Instagram to announce her engagement with beau Csaba Wagner in Los Angeles. The actress was taken by surprise when Csaba went down on his knees and proposed to her.

In an exclusive chat with BT, sharing her excitement, Sana says, “I expected it to happen sometime soon but didn’t know when. So, I was quite surprised. On December 28, we completed a year of dating and that’s when we got engaged. I got the pictures and posted them and the reel on December 31.”

So, what about marriage? “We are of course thinking of marriage. I want my family and my best friends to figure out their visas. We will also decide whether we want to get married in India or LA. So, that’s in the process. We are mainly looking at tying the knot by the end of this year. My family is most important and I am not getting married without them. We have decided to have a buffer time for us because it’s more likely that my mom, sisters, and brother-in-law will have their visas in place by the end of this year,” she replies.

Sana has been in LA for the past few years; she went there to study acting and filmmaking. She met Csaba, a sound designer and a director of a company, over a year ago and started dating soon after. Talking about how they met, she says, “He designs sound for films, games and commercials. It’s like two creative people coming together. ”

Sana says, “We have so many things in common – our love for movies and understanding cinema in depth. I met him on a dating app. I had never been on one until my friends here pushed me. The rest, as they say, is history. It’s quite interesting when we tell people that we met on a dating app”

The much-in-love couple is yet to meet each other’s families in person. Sana shares, “Csaba is an American citizen from Hungary and has lived in LA for more than 11 years. His family lives in Hungary. So far, we have met each other’s families virtually. I can communicate very little with his parents because they mostly speak Hungarian. So, I communicate with them in sign language with Csaba explaining everything to me (laughs!). Also, Hungary is on the border with Ukraine, so it’s very difficult for us to fly there right now. Hopefully, we will come to India very soon because my family is extremely excited about meeting him.”

While Csaba isn’t exposed to Bollywood, Sana plans to introduce him to Indian films starting with her most popular movie, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH), in which she played Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Anjali.

The actress says, “The concept of watching a three-hour film is new to him. We have been wanting to watch the film together but something or the other keeps coming up. So, it’s definitely due and the first Indian film he will watch will be KKHH.”

A recent show launch, which saw actor Arjun Kapoor answering questions on topics like STDs and unwanted pregnancies, got an interesting twist when the 37-year-old decided to slam a journalist for his question. The reporter asked that despite our country’s culture and identity being the one that forbids a person from having sex before marriage, why did he think it was okay to have multiple partners and open sex before or after marriage. The journalist quoted actor Shah Rukh Khan’s dialogue from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), ‘Hum ek baar jeete hai, ek baar marte hain, shaadi bhi ek baar hoti hai aur pyaar bhi ek baar hota hai’.

In response, Kapoor said, “Shah Rukh Khan is not India’s identity. And I don’t think he is promoting anything like this.” He added that there are many highs and lows in a person’s life and further explained, “You explore several relationships. When you decide to get married, it is a bigger deal than not being married. There are processes to reach that stage.”

The Ek Villain Returns actor, who is dating actor Malaika Arora, also asked, “How will you know if a person is right for you?” adding that people in the age group of 18 to 20 don’t fully understand love. They often realize later that they want to focus on their careers or that their relationship is not working out. Kapoor said exploring relationships should be allowed.

As she spent family time with her folks in Bengaluru last year, Kriti Kharbanda enjoyed doing what the family loves to do the most, which is watch movies together. And it is during this time that Kriti realised how much she wants to work with the Khans in the industry! It is the Khandaan of Bollywood who she grew up watching and now that she is an actor she is itching to work with them.

Talking about her love for cinema and her family, Kriti said, “We are a family that would dedicate alternate Sundays to watching movies in cinema halls. So, my dad got a projector and a huge screen during the lockdown to enjoy a theatrical experience at home. He has done this set up in the terrace of our house. We had fun movie nights. I recently spent some quality time with my parents and siblings and did not worry about the world.”

During her college days, Kriti remembers how she would bunk classes to watch her favourite stars on the big screen. A fan ofthe three Khans of Bollywood — Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir — Kriti hopes that one day she gets to act opposite SRK who she used to crush on the most. “Working with the Khans is definitely on my bucket list. I will achieve this one day and I have no doubts on that. While growing up, Shah Rukh Khan is the one who I admired the most. I remember I was in school when Kuch Kuch Hota Hai released. I bought that famous friendship band shown in the film, from outside my school and I wore it for a whole year. I really want to feature in a film with Shah Rukh sir.”

The year 2020 wrapped up what you might call a good decade for women in Bollywood with many steely, witty, sharp, cute, fun and badass female characters in leading roles. Think Piku. Sulu. Padmavati. Shivani. Sehmat. Rani. Kalindi. Phogat sisters. It felt like the narrative was changing, and women had become more than accessories.

However, research tracking speaking parts in the world’s biggest movie-making industry reveals that in the biggest pan-national box-office hits from the past five years — on an average, “women have less than a third of the dialogue”. In other words, men significantly out-talk the women.

This data measuring dialogue share of women in popular Hindi films comes from Shrayana Bhattacharya, a Delhi-based economist who, while researching for her book Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh that releases in October, stumbled upon this irony of Bollywood’s box office hits largely featuring what she calls “gorgeous mute women.”

“Since 2006, through various research projects on women’s employment and labour, I’ve met working women across India. During breaks, we would talk about our favourite movies and film stars which introduced me to Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) fangirls from diverse communities,” recounts Bhattacharya who followed several such fangirls for more than a decade to realise that one reason why the actor appealed to women from Jor Bagh to Jharkhand was how his on-screen characters would talk to women — lovers, mothers, friends and sisters — unlike films with other male actors. Bhattacharya decided to back this anecdotal evidence with data. “The only way to do this was to measure what share of dialogue was spoken by men and women in popular films.”

But deter mining speech patterns in nearly 50 Bollywood films between 1995 and 2020, replete with a chorus of singing voices, posed a challenge. Using a voice recognition program didn’t work so she coded and collected the data manually by watching each film closely, noting down the number of sentences and the gender of the speaker for each minute of the film. “For 15 films, I also measured the minutes that women would speak.”

What she found disrupts the age-old assumption that women speak more than men. “Four of the biggest hits of the past five years had women speaking for an average of 25 minutes in a runtime of at least 2.5 hours. Women occupy half the screen time but a quarter of the dialogue,” she observed.

Although in recent “multiplex” films like Queen, Kahaani and web-series such as Made In Heaven, women’s voices are emerging in full force, a disproportionate amount of movies are dominated by men who get more lines than women across different genres. And with ensemble casts, as the number of characters grow, so does the gender inequality.

For instance, in Dangal, a biographical drama centred on two female wrestlers or in PK featuring Anushka Sharma in a prominent role — there was an awful lot of talking by the men. “The narrator is a male and men speak much more dialogue in Dangal whereas in PK, Anushka spoke for approximately 35 minutes and there’s a full 45 minute segment where no women have speaking roles,” measured Bhattacharya.

Her study also reveals that speaking roles for women in “big mass hits” have only reduced over time. “Most of the ‘mass’ hits of the past five years have been heavily masculine action films where the universe is full of superman-type characters who talk amongst themselves — be it War or a Baahubali that had around 15 male speaking characters and five women,” she pointed out, as opposed to hits in the late 90s that were usually romances or family-dramas and featured more female characters and dialogue.

“As a result, while women only speak 28% of the dialogue in Baahubali: The Beginning, they have 60% of the dialogue in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai that had nine female speaking parts and five male,” tabulated Bhattacharya.

Paromita Vohra, a documentary filmmaker, agrees that old-fashioned Bollywood movies, despite their own set of problems, also came with a certain heterogeneity of characters and that the erasure of love stories may have contributed to the erasure of women from the screen. “There is, of course, a kind of shift in the representation of women in movies but post liberalisation we’ve seen a greater segmentation of gender and greater gendering, therefore. Films about women are only to do with women and films about queer people are only about queer people while films that are only about men or a masculine protagonist become general films about everybody. A world of cinema with all kinds of characters and different spaces given to different people in different ways has become harder.”

While Vohra attests to the fact that “recent cinema is far more masculine than before,” Shohini Ghosh, documentary filmmaker and media professor, feels the importance of a character in a film cannot be measured only through dialogue spoken by the character. “Film has its own language in which silence can be as eloquent as speech. The famous opening sequence of Charulata is almost wordless but a world of information is conveyed about the female protagonist. I personally feel much is changing especially with the advent of streaming platforms which show great diversity in the representation of genders and sexualities.”