Karan Johar started his career by directing Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. It starred Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, with Salman Khan and Rani Mukerji in supporting roles.
Karan Johar is currently enjoying the success of his recent movie Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, starring Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh and is also busy promoting his next production, Kill, directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, across the globe.
Karan Johar started his film career by directing the romantic movie Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. The film featured Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol as the main actors, with Salman Khan and Rani Mukerji in supporting roles. Recently, Karan talked about how he chose actors for roles and the hard work he put in to convince Salman Khan to join the cast, especially after other actors like Chandrachur Singh and Saif Ali Khan had declined the role of Aman Mehra.
“After Chandrachur Singh and Saif Ali Khan said no, I was very depressed. One day, I was at Chunky Panday’s house for a party and Salman came up to me and said ‘I heard you have been shopping’. He said you need to be really confident to do that part and asked me to come and narrate it to him the next day,” Karan recalled during a chat with fashion designer Prabal Gurung for Gold House NGO.
He considered it a great chance and followed Salman’s instructions by arriving at the set of Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai at 8:45 am for a 9 am shift. The film was being produced by Ramesh S Taurani. “He looked at me and said ‘Are you crazy? He isn’t coming before 2.’ But I was like, I will do what it takes,” recalled Karan.
Recalling the first day of the shoot, Karan said, “We were filming the song “Saajanji Ghar Aaye” and Salman came in wearing torn jeans and a black t-shirt. We had made a suit for him. I was very scared of Salman and I am still. At that moment, he said ‘you know what, no dulha has ever worn torn jeans and made it a trend. Though I said okay, I immediately sensed my blood pressure rising. At one point I told him that the set is very grand and Kajol is wearing this huge lehenga. But he said he wants to do this in a T-shirt. I reluctantly said no and then burst out crying in front of him. I started pleading with him to wear the suit saying that it was my first film. He quickly agreed to wear the suit and asked me to stop crying.”
Karan revealed that as he was in tears, Shah Rukh Khan entered the situation and quipped, “How embarrassing!”
The film went on to become one of the biggest hits.