Karan Johar As I Know Him

 There is an immediate and ineradicable  relatability  between Karan Johar  and  the people he befriends. I vividly remember the first  time I spoke to him.  It took time.

 I had loved Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and keenly wanted  to speak to him.

I asked  a  dear friend, a  sophisticated  actress also a chat-show hostess if she would introduce us. “Darling, I can’t disturb him just like that. I will see when I  can mention him to you,” she assured me. I  believed her blindly.She was, after all, my dear friend.

Months and years passed.  Then Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham  came. I still hadn’t spoken  to  Karan  Johar. One day  a publicist called and asked if I’d like  to speak to Karan Johar .

I said , sure,  why not(pretending to be nonchalant).

That’s when we spoke  for  the  first time.We warmed up to each other instantaneously. I still remember  the conversation  vividly.

When I told him  about the mutual friend whom I had  requested  for an introduction with Karan, he  asked, “Why did you need someone  to introduce us? Who doesn’t know  you  in this film industry?In  any case she’s  just a jealous bitch.”

Our conversations thereafter  were  filled with gossip and banter. Every time I visit Mumbai a meal with Karan is a must.  It is generally at  an upmarket  eatery chosen by him. He would just recommend  the  food  and  watch me eat.I’ve never seen Karan eating at any meal. Once  he invited  my friend Sanjay  Leeela Bhansali and I  to his home for lunch,  the spread  was as  epic as  the  starcast  of K3G.  And why  not? I peeped into the  kitchen there were  three househelps  busy inside .

“But my dear, the   food  was all ordered  from outside .Those women in the kitchen are  just pretending to be busy,”Karan quipped.

 Once when I was in  Mumbai for my  friend’s  film Black to be premiered Karan  was  down with jaundice. This is  the only time I  went in his bedroom. He  was lying on a classy double bed with a picture of Yash  Chopra overhead.

“Yashji reminds me of sarson ke khet. The yellow colour is  very apt at the  moment,” came Karan’s jaundiced opinion.

Over the years  I’ve witnessed many  acts of  Karan’s generosity.The one that I will  never forget  has to do with my daughter. She  wanted to meet her crush Shah Rukh Khan. Karan not only arranged the meeting he accompanied  us to Film City where Shah Rukh was shooting with Farah Khan. He made sure SRK spent  a good amount of time with my daughter.

Of course  there is another side to Karan. A  not-so-pleasant side which surfaces when someone  he trusts and  likes betrays  him.That’s okay. We  all have that side to our personality. The  important  thing  is to let your  benign  personality rule over your life. Karan  has  done  just that.

He is now a happy father to two lovely children .Karan’s world now revolves around  Roohi and  Yash. He makes sure he is around before they go to sleep. He  never misses a single opportunity to spend  time with them.He has never looked  happier. I think he has  stopped looking for  a companion after  the twins  came  into his  life.

 I always feared  that Karan’s fair-weather  friends –the actors directors technicians writers—who  hover around  him would desert him one day when he got old.

Not any longer.