Akshay Kumar switches to Punjabi when he is negotiating, reveals producer Karan Johar: ‘When he doesn’t want others to understand, he talks to me in Punjabi’

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Karan recalled that during his childhood, the Hindi film industry was dominated by Punjabis. “All the producers and directors came from Punjab. Whether it was Manmohan Desai’s set or Yash Chopra’s set or J Om Prakash’s set, everyone used to speak in Punjabi. The hero was Punjabi. The heroine was a South Indian. It was almost like a template. My father used to speak to the distributors in Punjabi in the morning. I knew Punjabi very well, but my problem would be when my mother woke up and started speaking in Sindhi. That’s where I got confused. I completely understand Punjabi,” added Karan.

Watch Karan Johar and Gippy Grewal at the trailer launch of Akaal

Karan revealed that he still speaks in Punjabi when he is trying to negotiate, especially with actors like Akshay Kumar, who is also very fluent in the language. Karan shared that Akshay, who has worked with Dharma Productions in films like Kesari and Good Newwz, switches to Punjabi in the middle of a meetings when he wants to speak with Karan directly, and not his business partner Apoorva. “Even today, when Apoorva Mehta is the main negotiator and Akshay Kumar doesn’t want Apoorva to know what he wants to say, he talks to me in Punjabi (laughs),” he said.

Karan expressed his gratitude to Gippy and his team for collaborating with Dharma Productions for Akaal. He said that making his Punjabi film debut with Gippy was a no-brainer. “Like they say in Jerry Maguire, ‘You had me at Hello.’ I’d say they had me at Gippy Grewal,” said Karan.