Bollywood's king Shah Rukh Khan and the talented director Karan Johar share a special kind of bond with each other. However, their first meeting was rather tense. In a throwback interview, KJo, shared that when he first accompanied his father to a film set where Shah Rukh was present, he carried with him the gossip-fuelled belief that the rising actor was “arrogant.” But what unfolded was quite the opposite.
"Everyone used to say Shah Rukh Khan was arrogant,” Karan remembered. “But he came up to me, spoke with such warmth and humility, and completely changed the narrative I had in my head.” That day, he said, was the beginning of a bond that would go on to define Hindi cinema in many ways.
The First Real Meeting That Almost Didn’t Happen
Interestingly, Karan recalled a time much before their first meet, long before they became collaborators or friends. At the age of 15, Karan revealed that he had once waited in filmmaker Aanand Mahendroo’s office for hours, seated right across from Shah Rukh, but neither spoke a word. "I had no idea it was him," Karan admitted. It was only after SRK left that someone pointed out who he'd been sitting next to.
That almost-meeting took on a new significance years later, as Karan and Shah Rukh would go on to collaborate on landmark films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and My Name is Khan, with their off-screen bond becoming as cherished as their on-screen work.
A Bond That Stands the Test of Time
Today, Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan share a deep, brotherly friendship that has lasted for decades. “He was the first person to hug me when my father passed away,” Karan once said in another interview.
On the professional front, Johar last directed the rom-com 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani' and SRK was last seen in 'Dunki'.