Karan Johar’s biography ‘An Unsuitable Boy’ revealed many secrets about the filmmaker’s life. For the first time, the filmmaker opened up about his sexuality and his struggles through discovering who he was. KJo also spoke about his tiff with Kajol, who once used to be his close friend. The book also talks about Karan’s tiff with his now close friend, Kareena Kapoor Khan.
Many people know that before Preity Zinta, it was Kareena who was offered the role of ‘Naina’ in ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’. However, not many know why she didn’t end up doing this movie. Talking about what happened years ago, Karan reveals, “My first problem was with Kareena. She asked for too much money and we had some kind of a fallout at that time. ‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge’ had just released, directed by Kunal Kohli. She said, ‘Aditya Chopra’s assistant Kunal Kohli has made this flop, so Karan Johar’s assistant, Nikhil Advani is not to be trusted either’. The weekend of ‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge’ release, I offered her ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’, and she asked for the same money that Shah Rukh Khan was getting. I said, ‘Sorry’.”
“I was very hurt. I told my father, ‘Leave that negotiation room’ and I called her. She didn’t take my call, and I said, ‘We’re not taking her.’ And we signed Preity Zinta instead. Kareena and I didn’t speak to each other for almost a year. For a year, we looked through each other at parties. It was very idiotic. She was a kid; she’s a decade younger than me.”
However, this tiff did not last that long. Karan further talks about how just one phone call from Bebo made them both realise that what happened between them wasn’t more important than their friendship. “We were releasing ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ in November. We had shot the film in June, July, August and in September I had to shoot the songs, make the promos and so on. So I had to head back, while my father continued the treatment in New York. That was the time Kareena Kapoor called me. It was August. We had not spoken for nine months. She called and said, ‘I heard about Yash uncle.’ She got really emotional on the phone, and she said, ‘I love you and I am so sorry I haven’t been in touch. Don’t worry’.”
While the filmmaker patched up with Kareena, we did see them working together in the film, ‘We Are Family’ which didn’t do well at the box office. Now since Karan Johar has released his book, we are awaiting to read more about the director’s personal life through ‘An Unsuitable Boy’.
