Karan Johar recalls Javed Akhtar walked out of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai as he didn’t approve of title, realised his mistake later

The title of Karan Johar‘s 1998 film, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, quickly became a cultural phenomenon. Even 25 years after its release, it remains a buzz word. However, in a recent discussion with fashion designer Prabal Gurung on the YouTube channel Gold House, the filmmaker revealed an interesting anecdote about the film’s title involving renowned lyricist Javed Akhtar. Initially, Javed had reservations about the film’s title and even walked out of the project, but he eventually recognised his error.

Speaking about the disagreement with Javed Akhtar over the film’s title, Karan Johar explained, “Javed sahab had a problem with the title Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, we had a creative disagreement and he told me, ‘I don’t feel like I can write the lyrics of this film’s songs’ and it was a very amicable. I told him that it is my desire to work with you and he said, ‘We will work Karan another time.’ But when the film released, he called me and told me that he was wrong.”

Although they didn’t collaborate on Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Karan and Javed Akhtar later teamed up for Karan’s 2003 film Kal Ho Naa Ho, where they created what Karan considers to be the best album of his career. “But we did my career’s best album Kal Ho Naa Ho. I remember how Javed sahab wrote the verse of the song in three minutes and I was like wow. I lost my dad after that film and that song will always remind me of him,” he said.

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Kuch Kuch Hota Hai enjoyed massive success at the box office and became a cult classic. The film’s soundtrack also achieved tremendous popularity, becoming the best-selling Bollywood soundtrack of the year, with an impressive eight million units sold in India. The title song of the film remained on the Indian music charts for over a year.