What! When THIS actress’ unreasonable demands changed her equation with Karan Johar and he refused to talk to her, but a personal tragedy reunited them

MUMBAI: The Hindi film industry has witnessed great friendships that have lasted years and some that have gone kaput in no time. There are also times when a friendship goes sour and then comes back on track due to various reason. The latter is what happened in the case of filmmaker Karan Johar and this actress who once demanded an equal remuneration as the lead actor Shah Rukh Khan which caused cracks in their friendship.

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The actress we are referring to is Kareena Kapoor Khan. Speaking about it in his biography ‘An Unsuitable Boy’, Karan wrote, “The weekend of Mujhse Dosti Karoge’s release, I offered her Kal Ho Naa Ho, and she asked for the same money that Shah Rukh Khan was getting. I said, ‘Sorry'.  I was very hurt. I told my father, ‘Leave that negotiation room’ and I called her. She didn’t take my call, and I said, ‘We’re not taking her.’ And we signed Preity Zinta instead. Kareena and I didn’t speak to each other for almost a year. For a year, we looked through each other at parties. It was very idotic. She was a kid; she’s a decade younger than me.’

In 2003 Karan’s father Yah Johar was undergoing cancer treatment and Kareena called him up to patch up. However it was only in June 2004, after Yash Johar passed away, the two finally rekindled their lost friendship.

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Karan wrote in his book, “We were releasing Kal Ho Naa Ho in November. We had shot the film in June, July, August and in September I had to shoot the songs, make the promos and so on. So I had to head back, while my father continued the treatment in New York. That was the time Kareena Kapoor called me. It was August. We had not spoken for nine months. She called and said, 'I heard about Yash uncle’. She got really emotional on the phone, and she said, ‘I love you and I am so sorry I haven’t been in touch. Don’t worry.”

During a recent episode of Koffee With Karan, Johar said, “We (he and Kareena) didn’t speak for a year and half. It was over a film, it was over Kal Ho Na Ho and it was only when my father was diagnosed with cancer that actually she called me, she was silent, and I was silent. She was like I don’t know what to say, I said, don’t say anything, I know you are there. When he passed away, she was in Bangkok, we still had not mended, the point she landed from her shoot, she came home. We spent all night just chatting. We went back to where we were. When we had fought, I said I am never going to speak with her again.”

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Credit-DNA