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It took filmmaker Karan Johar five days to learn that his directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai had emerged a blockbuster. The filmmaker, who had left the country after the premiere of the big multi-starrer, said he wept on call when his close friend and filmmaker, Aditya Chopra broke the news of the film’s mega-success to him.
Led by Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai released on October 16, 1998. Karan, who was in London at the time with his parents, Hiroo and Yash Johar, called up Aditya as Yash Raj Films were the distributors to nervously check the movie’s status at the box office.
In an interview with MidDay, Karan recalled being stumped when Aditya asked him one question: ‘What is the most expensive thing you want to buy?’ Karan said he didn’t know what the filmmaker was trying to say, until he underlined that the film had emerged as a massive success.
“It was on the Tuesday morning of the film’s release that I had to call Adi, because Yash Raj was distributing the film. He was like, ‘I have been trying to call you!’ I told him that I was really nervous, I wanted to know how the film is doing, because I had not heard anything. He said, ‘What is the most expensive thing you want to buy?’ I said, ‘I want to move to a bigger house with mom and dad.’
“He told me, ‘Come back to Mumbai and buy the biggest house because your movie is a blockbuster.’ I was holding the phone–and I am a bit of an emotional maniac–and I was weeping! He told me to stop crying as it was great news, the film was playing well everywhere!”
Karan recalled waking up his parents and informing them that their film had become a big hit. Karan said when his mother heard the word “hit”, she asked, “What does that mean?” as the family had not heard the word for any of their production in a long time.
“My father had films that had failed, six months before the film there was Duplicate, before that Gumrah, Agneepath, which was acclaimed but wasn’t a commercial success. We hadn’t seen success in so long. Then my dad called up all the distributors to check. It was just the three of us, so we had our own little party. It was emotional for us.”
The director said his mother’s “emotional reaction” to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai being a blockbuster was to ask him to dye his hair. Karan, who said he had started prematurely greying, recalled getting his hair coloured “jet black” and hiding his hair with a cap after the blunder.
“They asked me what colour they should use, I said black. I came back looking like mad! You are supposed to do light brown or medium brown so I came home and my parents were looking at me….it was jet black, the colour of night on my hair. I was so embarrassed I didn’t know what to do. So, I started to walk around in a cap. It was just mad that I looked so crazy for about 25 days.
“I couldn’t even go to a restaurant properly, not because they knew me but because I was this strange person with very dark hair. I wasn’t photographed then, so there is no archival evidence, but it was a big mistake. I didn’t know any better, I was a 25-year-old. I remember the colourist also asking me, ‘Are you sure?’ I was like, ‘Of course I am, what a stupid question to ask.'”
On the work front, Karan Johar recently saw another success with his latest directorial, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. The film starred Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh and marked his return to direction seven years after Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. He is rumoured to direct an action film next.
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