Shah Rukh Khan has earned right to speak when he needs to: Karan Johar on SRK’s absence on ‘Koffee with Karan’

PTI, Dec 5, 2023, 9:00 AM IST

Filmmaker Karan Johar on Monday said his superstar friend Shah Rukh Khan will not be appearing in the current season of popular celebrity chat show, ”Koffee with Karan”.

Shah Rukh was a regular on the chat show but has stayed away from it in the last few seasons. Johar said as a friend he understands and respects Shah Rukh’s decision and will approach him when the ”time is right”. ”I just know if there is any megastar who has earned his right to speak when he needs to, it is Shah Rukh Khan. I, of all the people, have been his closest friend and family and should understand that. I have that leverage because he is family to me,” the filmmaker said at an event of ”Koffee With Karan”.

”I can ask him and request him and he has never said no to me. So, I never asked because I know he didn’t want to be in that situation of dilemma, where he has to say no to me. I pick and choose what I ask for,” he said.

Johar, who has collaborated with SRK on various films such as ”Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, ”Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham”, and ”My Name is Khan”, among others, is currently hosting the eighth season of the popular chat show on Disney+Hotstar.

This season had guests like Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, Sara Ali Khan and Ananya Panday, Alia Bhatt and Kareena Kapoor, Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan, and Rani Mukherji and Kajol.

Johar said he is also waiting for the right time to invite the superstar on the show. SRK has not given any media interviews in the last four years, except for promotional press events and #AskSRK sessions on social media. Johar, 51, said Shah Rukh is an ”extraordinary” orator and someone he looked upon as an elder brother.

”When the right time is there, I will ask him. I know when he has to want to speak, he will. When he does, it’ll be extraordinary because no one gives interviews better than Shah Rukh Khan. Nobody speaks better than him,” he said.

”When he speaks on a global platform or a national platform, he is just the wizard of words. He is truly the emperor not just on screen but off screen. There’s a lot of collective love for him, because of the man he has been to us off screen,” Johar said Johar said he speaks with Shah Rukh every other day. ”I don’t miss him that way, because I have ‘Koffee with Karan’ with him every night. Almost every evening, Shah Rukh, Gauri, his family and I meet. I’m having those conversations. I understand why you might miss him, but I’m satiated because he’s a big, huge part of my existence,” he added.

Talking about the show that has often put celebrities and Johar in a tight spot because what’s said during the rapid fire round, the filmmaker said they once thought about removing the segment.

He added that the guests have now grown more circumspect about what they say on the show over a period of time.

”We kept coming back to finding a replacement to rapid fire and the sad thing is people are much more worried now than they were in the first few seasons. Nobody wants a PR nightmare. Everyone is so careful that you have to make sure that you change the language of rapid fire so that you will get something,” Johar said.

”There were times when people have answered with abandon, like most underrated and overrated, and answers were flowing. Today, I won’t answer those so how can I expect them? We all have built a sensitive climate. Social media has made us so much more sensitise with sensitivity. So, everyone is sensitive about what they are saying, what they are expected to say, fan clubs get angry, I don’t want any of that,” he added.

In response to a question regarding the editing of certain scenes from ”Koffee with Karan” episodes, the director stated he has never removed anything that could have ”repercussions and ramifications”.

“I’ve kept things that maybe, in retrospect, I shouldn’t have….We cut out the boring banter. But things of consequence we have never to cut out. I’ve never asked to remove anything that I’ve said that is too personal or perhaps an opinion, which will have repercussions and ramifications, and it’s all there. There’s proof of that,” he said.