“I don’t know about happy endings, because I don’t think, eventually, anything is happy. You feel a bout of happiness with good news. Five minutes later, there could be a traffic jam or a phone call from an irritating relative or a weird thought, or it could be a tweet that annoys you, and your emotion will flip immediately.”
― Karan Johar
“Sometimes you just wonder whether people just don’t have the sensitivity or decency. I’m a member of the media myself: I host a talk show. I know sometimes when you want to ask something, you can circumvent it with words and vocabulary. You don’t suddenly just go out there and ask something directly in the pretense of being absolutely candid.”
― Karan Johar
“I know I don’t mind sharing my defects, my deficiencies, partly in the hope that someone will hear it and know that they’re not alone.”
― Karan Johar
“I’m sad, upset, and disheartened with the trolling that happens on social media… At the end of the day, this whole homophobia is so disheartening and upsetting. And then they say, ‘Why don’t you speak about your sexuality? You could be iconic in this country.’ But I don’t want to be iconic anywhere. I want to live my life.”
― Karan Johar
“I have always been interested in fashion and even contemplated being a fashion designer at one point of time.”
― Karan Johar
“Offence is no longer defence – it’s a full-time profession. Everyone is so offended all the time. The new police force that we weren’t told about: the moral police. No qualifications, no training, no understanding of actual morality, but they have a degree in the art of being offended.”
― Karan Johar
“Throughout my life, I have valued relationships far more than the professionalism.”
― Karan Johar
“I am a Gemini and can adapt to most atmospheres. You get two for the price of one when you are a Gemini.”
― Karan Johar
“I have invariably been in love when I haven’t had the same reciprocated emotion at all. I don’t choose to talk about my personal life because I believe that I don’t want to, and I believe my personal life is personal.”
― Karan Johar
“I find myself asking questions that as a filmmaker I never thought I would ask. Like I get a call from a magazine for a feature and my first question is, ‘Cover or not?’ Interview invite from a leading channel? I have stopped asking the topic. I’m just like ‘Primetime or not?’ If I am invited and put in the second row, I can be distraught for days!”
― Karan Johar
“I saw ‘Brokeback Mountain’ in a packed house in Chelsea, New York, when I was filming a Bollywood film there. Chelsea, being a predominately gay neighbourhood, had the most euphoric reaction. I saw couples holding hands and crying at the end. It was the most heartening viewing I have ever been to.”
― Karan Johar
“Whether or not we communicate it, I definitely seek my mom’s acceptance and approval for everything. She has a strong commercial sense of movies and is a quintessential audience. When she doesn’t like something, I know there is reason to worry. When she loves something, there is reason to celebrate.”
― Karan Johar
“I met Hugh Jackman, and I was like, ‘I love your movies!’ And, of course, he asked, ‘Which one?’ A reasonable question, but I blanked completely. In that moment, I couldn’t remember a single film that Hugh Jackman had done. So I copped out. ‘The recent one!’ And that was one of his biggest disasters. Well done, me.”
― Karan Johar
“I am incapable of directing a film like ‘Agneenath.’ I can do only what I am good at, so I would have been the worst choice to direct it. It has aggression, action and an inherent violence in it – things I am not capable of directing in my films.”
― Karan Johar
“From the time you open the newspapers to the time the lights go off at night, it’s all lies. We lie the most to the people closest to us. For fear of hurting them, breaking their heart, or worrying them.”
― Karan Johar
“Everyone thinks I land in a chopper on top of my building and I have the most cushy existence. Could you understand that I might have the most messed up life myself?”
― Karan Johar
“I am a product of Indian cinema; I’ve grown up watching Indian films ever since I can remember. And song and dance is part of our lives; it’s part of our culture; we wake up to songs, we sleep to lullabies, you know, we celebrate every religious and traditional function with music.”
― Karan Johar
“I want to walk the red carpet at the Oscars. I am in awe of the ceremony, and winning an Oscar would be the most magical moment of my life. I want to make that speech and hold that trophy and say, ‘This is for you, India.’ That’s the line I have rehearsed for God knows how long. But that has to be for a Hindi language film.”
― Karan Johar
“I, of course, was born as if I was a movie star in my head. Even though I had nothing, in my head I was always royalty. My mother always said, ‘I don’t know where you came from’. I didn’t have their value system. And I always lived beyond my means.”
― Karan Johar
“For me, my country comes first. Nothing else matters but my country. I always felt that the best way to express your patriotism is to spread love, and that’s all I ever tried to do through my work and my cinema.”
― Karan Johar
“I simply can’t do one-word message replies: Yes. Ok. No. Sure. Cool. None of these are options for me. I must write something extra. Something personal. I put kisses and emoticons. Emoticons, by the way, are my very best friends. They have removed all the pressure of thinking up something personal to say.”
― Karan Johar
“I have never, ever talked about my orientation or sexuality because whether I am heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, it is my concern. I refuse to talk about it… I have not been brought up to talk about my sex life.”
― Karan Johar
“Two powerful people can’t be friends.”
― Karan Johar
“My primary passion is film-making. That’s the aspect of my life that defines me, completes me, and completely grounds me. Everything else – from judging a reality TV show to hosting a talk show – is just a result of me being a film-maker. I am the happiest, satisfied and at peace when I am behind the camera.”
― Karan Johar
“Honesty is wonderful, but I suspect it’s also overrated.”
― Karan Johar
“I am always acting, be at a party, at work or in office. My attitude changes from meeting to meeting, from being serious to intense to funny, depending on who is in the room.”
― Karan Johar
“Tell me, who doesn’t want to have a family to extend himself/herself?”
― Karan Johar
“Sometimes new voices have the most spectacular vision. It is uncluttered and organic.”
― Karan Johar
“I love that first-time feeling that I can’t build in myself anymore, where I can learn and emulate other filmmakers. Be it Ayan Mukherjee, Punit Mahotra, Karan Malhotra, Tarun Mansukhani or Shakun Batra, all of them have taught me something or the other.”
― Karan Johar
“For good or bad, there is a certain level of generalisation when it comes to my work. I want to break that perception. My decision to direct ‘Bombay Talkies’ or to present ‘The Lunchbox’ is an attempt to do that. These are the films that gel well with my sensibility, and it’s unfortunate, it’s not the perception out there.”
― Karan Johar
“’The Lunchbox’ is the kind of cinema that is true to its word and not cluttered or corrupted by some of the mainstream pre-requisites. I love the way I make movies, but there are certain stories that need to be told in a certain way, and ‘The Lunchbox’ is that movie, and I’m so proud to present this movie.”
― Karan Johar
“I feel what a spouse can do for you, no child or parent can. Just that if you get the right connect with your spouse, you get it going right.”
― Karan Johar
“I may adopt. I love children and I do feel the need to take the legacy forward. I am open to it, but emotionally you have to be ready for it. Raising a child is really a huge responsibility. And I should have that time and emotional energy to give to child. How and when is a decision my mother and I will take a few years from now.”
― Karan Johar
“Marriage is a definite no-no. I am totally married to my company. Emotionally, my mother fills up the void in my life. So there it is. My company is a spouse I will never cheat on, and my mother completes me as a son. I think I have a full family unit of my own.”
― Karan Johar
“My instinct about a human being is paramount. For me, when a director has walked into my room or an assistant that I have hired, who has later gone on to become a director, is purely based on human instinct, be it Ayan Mukerji, Karan Malhotra, Punit Malhotra or Tarun Mansukhani. I am very susceptible to human energy and energy of spaces.”
― Karan Johar
“Legal documents have mistrust written all over them. It’s unfortunate, but the human DNA is so tuned to kind of taking you for granted that we tend to protect ourselves legally. That’s why I don’t read them as, if I read them, I will go soft. To me, the human relationship is far more important than the professional bond I share with anyone.”
― Karan Johar
“I grew up as the only child, and we did not have a large family. So for me and my mother, our friends tend to become our family.”
― Karan Johar
“I don’t claim to have led a saintly life. There have been a lot of one-sided love stories in my life.”
― Karan Johar
“I think that I have self esteem issues, really. If you really analyse it… People who really like me I have no interest in. The unattainable is always that I want to attain.”
― Karan Johar
“I am not interested in producing fiction for Indian television at all, the reason being that I don’t understand the medium. I can be a judge or a host; I can do that as an individual. But to produce TV content, you have to know the game.”
― Karan Johar
“I firmly believe that emotions are universal, and I know that when they connect with the audience, it works. There is no such thing as an entertaining or a serious film; there are good films and bad films. Good films will always find a vast audience.”
― Karan Johar
“As a child, as a cinemagoer, I think there is nothing better than being in a cinema or watching a film. I think it’s just a while magical… it almost feels like you’re at a big party in India, where you’re singing, you’re dancing, you’re laughing, you’re crying, you feel like you’re at a wedding because our films invariably cover all emotions.”
― Karan Johar
“I’m exceptionally email un-savvy, so to reply to my emails is like a torture. It’s like literally, half of all my emails, I get my secretary to type out for me. And the personal ones, I avoid and just pick up the phone and call them.”
― Karan Johar
“When I’m making a film, I’m obsessive about what I do, and I get totally into it. That’s all I’m eating, breathing, living at that moment.”
― Karan Johar
“My father was 40 when he had me, so he was more a grandparent than a parent.”
― Karan Johar
“Because I was the only child, I was completely indulged. My father thought I was the best looking boy. And even though I was at 100 kgs., he dismissed it as puppy fat. He thought that the sun came out of my head. If I got five out of ten marks, he thought I was half there and had only half way more to go.”
― Karan Johar
“My mother was keen that I complete my graduation and never ever wanted me to be in the movies, as my father had made five films that lost money. One of the films he made was ‘Agneepath,’ which was hugely hyped but underwhelming at the box office, and I remember that my dad had to sell my grandmother’s flat to pay off the loan.”
― Karan Johar
“I remember breaking the news to both my parents that I wanted to be a director, and they both looked very doubtful. They didn’t know what a closet Hindi film buff I was. I used to dance to old Hindi films songs on the sly, so my decision to be a part of Hindi cinema was shocking even for my parents.”
― Karan Johar
“Few people know that I love local dhaba food. It is the best!”
― Karan Johar
“No one wanted to be my friend because of my lunchbox – because I never shared my lunchbox. One day the principal walked in and said, ‘No one is friends with Karan Johar; who will be his friend?’ My CEO today put his hand up there and said, he will.”
― Karan Johar
“Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is. I don’t need to scream it out. I won’t, only because I live in a country where I could possibly be jailed for saying this.”
― Karan Johar
“I’m not embarrassed about who I am. I’m not apologetic.”
― Karan Johar
“There are ups and downs in so many relationships, but with Shah Rukh, there is deep love. There’s no other way of communicating the respect and love I have for him. And I believe that ours will be a dynamic, and relationship and connect that will be forever.”
― Karan Johar
“In my experience, I think there’s must ado about fidelity and infidelity. I think sometimes true emotional relationships can go beyond those.”
― Karan Johar
“My very shy Punjabi father never taught me about the birds and bees. So shy was he that he may have thought he would get arrested for even talking about it.”
― Karan Johar
“I’ve heard expressions like, ‘Are you good in bed?’ What does that even mean? For me, good in bed means sleeping seven hours. Undisturbed! If I get eight hours, that means I’m amazing!”
― Karan Johar
“I feel Victoria may have a Secret, but you don’t have to know it!”
― Karan Johar
“I condemn any form of terrorism and especially the terrorism that would affect my country and me.”
― Karan Johar
“’Sairat’ is a film I absolutely loved. I have great regard for the movie and its film-maker. The movie blew my mind.”
― Karan Johar
“I’ve been the lull, and I’ve been the storm and also somewhere in between. But that’s OK. I love the limelight after all.”
― Karan Johar
“I am not a hound; I am an attention-seeker. Very different animal. My kind of attention requires greater finesse.”
― Karan Johar
“Give me the flash lights, the red carpets, and all that goes with it. Please! Oh, and I love hoardings. I love them. Nothing makes me happier than my face splashed all over the city.”
― Karan Johar
“I do not understand why we are not raised to celebrate our bodies as children. Why we are told to be shy or awkward or self-conscious.”
― Karan Johar
“I’m a proud filmmaker, but everyone seems to have forgotten that. You’re introduced, and someone will say, ‘Arrey! Karan Johar! He does talk shows! He’s judge!’ And now my filmmaking has been lost, all my other accomplishments forgotten.”
― Karan Johar
“I’m not a walking fleet of vanity vans any more than I’m a walking, talking multi-star cast. I might want an entourage, but so far, it is entirely eluding me.”
― Karan Johar
“I find that I don’t lie about the big things in life. The things that matter. And about me. While I’m talking about myself, I rarely lie: I know who I am, my level of talent, that I’m not the most versatile filmmaker, the person I am. I don’t lie about myself because I don’t lie to myself.”
― Karan Johar
“Infidelity has always existed, but I feel like it was brushed under the carpet, behind the scenes. Now everyone is at it – and they’ve stopped pretending they’re not.”
― Karan Johar
“I was one of the first early Twitter users from the film fraternity. And back then in 2009, I thought I was going to enter a world where people liked me, knew me, knew my work – it was going to be fine! All about the love, not the hate. And it was. At first.”
― Karan Johar
“If I did have a six-pack to show and a great waistline to put out there to the universe or beautiful muscular legs, then I would not have to pout. The only thing I have going for me is a jawline.”
― Karan Johar
“I’m deeply stressed as a filmmaker, and I know I’m not alone. The censorship crisis, the moral policing, the politics of it has most of us on edge. I’m scared to use certain words: like, if I use ‘Bombay,’ will there be a problem?”
― Karan Johar
“My college friends call me Karu, which is the worst. Only in our country can we make a short form for a short name. But otherwise, I’ve never had a pet name all my life. But now, in official meetings, someone will call me KJo. And I’ll judge that person in my head. Just call me Karan.”
― Karan Johar
“The first time I fell in love, I was in my 20s, and I loved someone right till I was 31. And then I felt that emotion died within me. I wasn’t feeling alive at all.”
― Karan Johar
“I am constantly accused of being ‘First World.’ So what should I do? I can’t apologise for my environment, upbringing, aesthetic.”
― Karan Johar
“I was swept by the narrative structure of film… you can create a world, you can destroy it, you can do what you want with it and serve it to people just the way you like.”
― Karan Johar
“For me, a child means an old-age insurance policy. I have a nurturing quality in me.”
― Karan Johar
“I am very strongly paternal. My paternal instincts need to be acted upon. My love needs a release. I love everyone. I don’t express my love enough, but the love within me needs a platform as a parent.”
― Karan Johar
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