MUMBAI: Karan Johar’s Koffee With Karan is the kind of talk show that captures people’s attention for various reasons: either due to their genuine admiration for it, the desire to gather juicy B-Town gossip, or simply for the guilty pleasure of cringe-watching. Regardless of the motivation, it has consistently remained one of India’s most successful talk shows ever since its premiere in 2004.

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But did you know that when he initially shared his idea for Koffee With Karan with those close to him, they were not supportive at all? Mentioning that he embarked on this endeavour solely based on his instincts, Karan Johar revealed in a recent interview with Mid-Day that no one encouraged him to pursue it.

“Koffee With Karan is just about easy-breezy conversations. But I don’t remember how I came up with the name or the rapid-fire segment. I don’t remember anything,” he said. Mentioning that Payal Mukherjee was among those responsible for creating questions for the early stages of the rapid-fire segment, Karan said that but later on, this task was delegated to various other people.

“Back then, SOL served as the production partner, and they too used to write the rapid-fire questions. And it just kept evolving,” he recalled. Stating that he launched the show “for fun”, Karan pointed out that he doesn’t own Koffee With Karan. “It’s not my Intellectual Property (IP). Technically, they can do it with Karan Thapar too. If I leave, I can do ‘Conversation With Karan’, but I can’t ever do Koffee With Karan,” he added.

Karan also remembered a specific occasion when an English teacher scolded him for spelling “coffee” with a ‘K’. “She told me that all students were writing coffee with a K and said it’s things like this that you have to be careful about. I apologised to her.” He mentioned that his fixation with the letter ‘K’ ended with (the debacles of) Kaal and Kurbaan.

Karan also expressed dissatisfaction over interviewers for adhering to a predetermined list of questions during conversations, often rushing through them without fully listening to the speaker’s responses. “That is not what an interview is. An interviewer is somebody who listens,” he noted.

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While he is still basking in the success of his directorial Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Karan is also busy promoting his upcoming production venture, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s Kill. During its world premiere at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival 2023, the actioner met with rave reviews.

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Credits - The Indian Express