Karan Johar

Early and personal life

Karan Johar was born on 25 May 1972 in Bombay, India, to a Punjabi father, film producer Yash Johar, founder of Dharma Productions, and a Sindhi mother, Hiroo Johar. He grew up in a "cosmopolitan house" where the family communicated in English, and his father, an Arya Samaji, would recite Hindu, Sikh, and Christian prayers. He studied at Green Lawns High School and later H.R. College of Commerce and Economics, both in Mumbai. Johar attempted admission to The Doon School but was declined due to scoring zero in mathematics.

He began his career as a child actor, playing Shrikant in the 1989 Doordarshan serial Indradhanush, and was influenced by Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra, and Sooraj Barjatya. He briefly followed numerology for film titles but stopped after watching Lage Raho Munna Bhai.

Johar has publicly discussed his sexual orientation, stating, "Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is," and in February 2017, he became a father to twins, son Yash and daughter Roohi, via surrogacy. He named his son after his father, Yash Johar, and his daughter after his mother, Hiroo Johar.

In 2020, following the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, Johar faced criticism and allegations of promoting nepotism in Bollywood, particularly regarding casting of star children. Johar defended his casting choices, highlighting the number of debut directors and outsider talents introduced by his production house.

Film career

Director

Initial work, debut and breakthrough (1995–2001)

Johar entered the film industry as an assistant director and actor on his cousin, Aditya Chopra's Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), which is one of the most successful films to date.

He made his own directorial debut with the romantic comedy-drama Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). The first half of the film centers on a college love triangle between an insensitive boy (Shah Rukh Khan), his tomboyish best friend (Kajol), and the prettiest girl at the college (Rani Mukerji), while the second half centers on the now-widowed boy's attempt to reconnect with his best friend who is now engaged to marry a businessman (Salman Khan). The film emerged as a major blockbuster at the box-office and received positive reviews from critics. Writing for PlanetBollywood.com, critic Anish Khanna commented that "Johar makes an impressive directorial debut, has a good script sense, and knows how to make a film with S-T-Y-L-E." It won the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment. It swept most of the major awards at the 44th Filmfare Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and all four acting awards.

Johar achieved his breakthrough with the ensemble family drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). The film starred Amitabh Bachchan as an egotistical rich industrialist, Jaya Bachchan as his compassionate wife, and Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan as their two sons. It also featured Kajol and Kareena Kapoor as sisters from a lower-class family who become the love interests of Khan and Roshan respectively. The film emerged as Johar's second consecutive major blockbuster at the box-office and received positive reviews from critics. Critic Taran Adarsh commented that Johar "confirms the fact that he is the brightest in film firmament. The premise [of the film] is simple, but it is the storytelling that deserves the highest marks." Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham earned him his second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director.

Widespread success (2006–10)

Johar's third directorial venture was the ensemble musical romantic drama Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), which dealt with the controversial subject of marital infidelity, emotional dissatisfaction, and dysfunctional relationships set against the backdrop of non-resident Indians (NRIs) living in New York City. The film's plot follows a washed-up athlete (Shah Rukh Khan), whose frustration with his wife (Preity Zinta) results in an extramarital affair with a family friend (Rani Mukerji), a schoolteacher who is also unhappy with her marriage to her childhood friend (Abhishek Bachchan). The film emerged as Johar's third consecutive major blockbuster at the box-office and emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of all time in overseas markets at the time. It received highly positive reviews from critics who praised Johar's departure from the directorial style of his first two films. Rajeev Masand wrote, "Few writers have such solid control over their screenplay as Johar does. Few understand the intricacies of narrative as well as he does. Johar goes from highs to lows, from plateaus to peaks with the ease of a pro. He knows exactly how to turn a seemingly ordinary scene into something special with just that one line of dialogue, or that hint of background music." The script of the film which was co-written by Johar received recognition by a number of critics and was invited to be included in the library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna earned him his third nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director.

Johar's next directorial venture was the social drama My Name Is Khan (2010), his first film not written by him. The plot follows a Muslim man with Asperger's syndrome and his Hindu wife, played by Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, who live in San Francisco and face racial prejudice after 11 September attacks. The film emerged as Johar's fourth consecutive major blockbuster in both domestic and overseas markets, and received rave reviews from critics who praised Johar's unconventional directorial style. Critic Subhash K. Jha wrote that the film "is a flawless work, as perfect in content, tone, and treatment as any film can get." My Name Is Khan won Johar his second Filmfare Award for Best Director.

Continued success and experimental projects (2012–18)

For his next feature film Student of the Year (2012), Johar chose not to cast established actors for his lead roles and instead recruited three debutante actors (Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan). The plot revolved around the quest of a group of students who are all gunning for the title of "Student of the Year" at their college. The film emerged as a moderate commercial success and received mixed reviews from critics. Some called it "supremely entertaining and enjoyable," while others called it "a film which suffers from the lack-of-a-story syndrome."

Johar then teamed up with Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, and Dibakar Banerjee for Bombay Talkies (2013), an anthology film released to celebrate the centenary year of Hindi cinema. Each of these directors made one short film to contribute to the large anthology. The plot of Johar's film followed a magazine editor (Rani Mukerji) who discovers that her husband (Randeep Hooda) is gay after an interaction with an intern at her office (Saqib Saleem). The film did not perform well at the box-office, but earned positive reviews from critics, with major praise for Johar's segment earning him a nomination for the Queer Palm award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Johar's next directorial venture was the musical romantic drama Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016). The film featured Ranbir Kapoor as a man dealing with an unrequited love for his best friend, played by Anushka Sharma. It also featured Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as an older woman who engages in a brief relationship with Kapoor's character, and Fawad Khan as the love interest of Sharma's character. The film emerged as his fifth major blockbuster at the box-office and received positive reviews from critics, who called it "Johar's most grown-up film yet." Ae Dil Hai Mushkil earned him his fifth nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Director.

Johar teamed up again with Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap, and Dibakar Banerjee for Lust Stories (2018), an anthology film released on Netflix that served as a follow-up to Bombay Talkies. The film was praised for its exploration of female sexuality, a subject rarely dealt with in Indian films. Johar's segment revolved around a newly married schoolteacher (Kiara Advani) whose husband (Vicky Kaushal) fails to recognize her lack of sexual satisfaction.

Career expansion (2018–present)

In August 2018, Johar took to Twitter to announce his next film Takht, a period drama based in the Mughal era. It was supposed to feature an ensemble star cast of Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, Janhvi Kapoor, and Anil Kapoor. With a screenplay by Sumit Roy, dialogues by Hussain Haidry, and music composed by A. R. Rahman, it was supposed to be the second film directed by Johar that was not written by himself. In an interview with Firstpost, Johar stated that Takht would begin filming in September 2019. However, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire project was postponed, with Johar stating that he would pick it up again in the future.

In 2020, he reteamed with Banerjee, Akhtar and Kashyap for the horror anthology film Ghost Stories, the sequel to Lust Stories. Ghost Stories premiered on Netflix on 1 January 2020. His segment in the film told the story of a newly-married woman (Mrunal Thakur) and her experience with her husband's (Avinash Tiwary) post-traumatic stress disorder. Unlike its predecessors, it received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics upon release.

In July 2021, it was announced that Johar would direct a romantic comedy family drama instead, titled Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. The film starred Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi, Ranveer Singh, and Alia Bhatt in lead roles. It was released on 28 July 2023 and emerged as a critical and commercial success, ranking as the seventh highest-grossing Bollywood film of the year. The film earned Johar several awards including the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

On his 52nd birthday in 2024, Johar announced that his next directorial, set to release in the second half of 2025.

Producer

Main article: Dharma Productions

Johar's directorial work (with the exception of anthology films Bombay Talkies (2013), Lust Stories (2018) and Ghost Stories (2020)) has been produced under the Dharma Productions banner, founded by his father Yash Johar and taken over by him after his father's death in 2004. In addition to his own directorial work, he has produced several films by other directors under the Dharma banner. Many of these films have become major critical and commercial successes including Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Dostana (2008), Wake Up Sid (2009), I Hate Luv Storys (2010), Agneepath (2012), a remake of the 1990 cult classic movie of the same name, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013), 2 States (2014), Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), Kapoor & Sons (2016), Dear Zindagi (2016), Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017), Raazi (2018), Simmba (2018), Dhadak (2018), Kesari (2019), Good Newwz (2019), Sooryavanshi (2021), and Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva (2022).

Other work

Johar made his acting debut in the 1989 television series Indradhanush. In addition to working as an assistant director on Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Johar was an actor in the film, playing the minor role of a friend of Shah Rukh Khan’s character. Since then, he has made cameo appearances playing himself in films like Om Shanti Om (2007), Fashion (2008), and Luck by Chance (2009).

He got his first full-fledged film role alongside Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma in Anurag Kashyap’s period drama Bombay Velvet (2015), in which he played the main antagonist. Although the film did not perform well at the box-office, Johar earned mixed-to-positive reviews for his performance. Critic Sarita A. Tanwar commented, "The only consolation in the film is Johar who brings a lot of dignity to the character of Khambatta... which is commendable since this is totally outside his comfort space."

Johar has worked as a costume designer for Shah Rukh Khan on many films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Duplicate (1998), Mohabbatein (2000), Main Hoon Na (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), and Om Shanti Om (2007).

Johar is the host of Koffee with Karan, a talk show where he interviews actors, directors, producers, and other prominent members of the Hindi film industry. The series has run intermittently since 2004, with eight seasons . Since 2012, he has served as a judge on the reality shows Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (with Madhuri Dixit and Remo D’Souza), India's Got Talent (with Malaika Arora Khan, Kirron Kher, and Farah Khan) and India's Next Superstars (with Rohit Shetty). In January 2022, he appeared as a judge on the Colors TV's show Hunarbaaz: Desh Ki Shaan along with Mithun Chakraborty and Parineeti Chopra.

Johar is also an investor in an AI-led adtech influencer marketing platform Konfluence. The company had raised a pre-series funding of $4 million as of 8 February 2022.

In 2024, Johar invested in the , a venture studio supporting fashion and lifestyle startups in India.

Filmography

Film

Acting roles

Television

Bibliography

Awards and honours

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Karan Johar

References

References

1. (16 December 2018). "Koffee With Karan 6:, Vicky Kaushal Discover Karan Johar Was Originally Named As...". NDTV Convergence Limited.
2. "Padma Awards 2020". Ministry of Home Affairs (Govt. of India).
3. "KARAN YASH JOHAR {{!}} DIN : 00013096".
4. "KJo meets Kareena on sets of Heroine".
5. "Padma Shri for Ekta Kapoor, Karan Johar, Kangana Ranaut and Adnan Sami". India Today.
6. (17 October 2023). ""Very honoured, very humbled": Karan Johar as 'Shershaah' wins National Film Award".
7. (9 October 2024). "Karan Johar Wins Third National Award With Ayan Mukerji-Directorial 'Brahmastra'".
8. (19 September 2025). "Homebound is India's official entry for Oscars 2026, Karan Johar and Neeraj Ghaywan express delight".
9. (2025-12-17). "Homebound Shortlisted For Oscars 2026, 'Over The Moon' Karan Johar Writes Emotional Note".
10. (2022-08-09). "Karan Johar on Koffee With Karan: ''Never thought I would get this far, hosting seven seasons''".
11. (30 June 2017). "Leading actresses are paranoid as parents: Karan Johar". Hindustan Times.
12. "An Unsuitable Boy: Overview". Penguin India.
13. (2017). "An Unsuitable Boy". Penguin.
14. (22 September 2009). "Karan Johar goes back to college". Hrcollege.edu.
15. (2018). "An Unsuitable Boy". [[Penguin India]].
16. Nandy, Pritish. (9 December 1998). "'All the women I meet keep telling me how much they cried in the film! That's what made it a hit, I guess.'". Rediff.Com.
17. V S Srinivasan. (15 October 1998). "'I'm a little scared'". Rediff.Com.
18. (7 October 2006). "Karan to drop letter K". The Times of India.
19. (8 January 2017). "Karan Johar on being gay: Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is".
20. (6 March 2017). "Alia Bhatt to Priyanka Chopra: Celebrities Congratulate Karan Johar on Becoming a Father". [[News18]].
21. (15 June 2020). "After Sushant Singh Rajput's Death, Why Karan Johar And Alia Bhatt Are Trending".
22. (3 July 2020). "Karan not out of Sooryavanshi".
23. (21 August 2019). "Karan Johar on nepotism: Why don't I get credit for bringing outsiders to Bollywood as filmmakers?".
24. (27 September 2015). "Karan Johar's excited and we have 'mentor' Aditya Chopra to thank".
25. Khanna, Anish. (16 October 1998). "Film Review: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai".
26. Adarsh, Taran. (11 December 2001). "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham".
27. Masand, Rajeev. (29 April 2010). "Masand's Verdict: ''Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna''".
28. Jha, Subhash K. (13 February 2010). "Hug your neighbor, watch My Name Is Khan!".
29. Nahta, Komal. (19 October 2012). "STUDENT OF THE YEAR Review".
30. Bhattacharya, Ananya. (1 December 2012). "'Student of the Year' review: Watch out for the newcomers' infectious charm!".
31. (24 May 2013). "Ritesh Batra's Lunchbox wins Critics Week Viewers Choice Award at Cannes Film Festival 2013". India Today.
32. Bhave, Nihit. (28 October 2016). "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil Movie Review".
33. (10 August 2018). "Takht is about 2 warring brothers, expect K3G of Mughal era: Karan Johar on Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor film".
34. (9 August 2018). "Takht: Karan Johar ropes in Alia Bhatt, Ranveer Singh, Janhvi Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and others for his next directorial".
35. "Karan Johar on deciding against directing Kalank, Student of the Year 2, and why it's too late to be in a relationship".
36. (27 July 2023). "Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani Gets Thumbs Up From Critics".
37. "Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani".
38. "Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani Emerges HIT Due to Overseas".
39. "Bollywood Top Grossers Worldwide 2023".
40. Bhattacharya, Tanisha. (1 August 2025). "71st National Film Awards: Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Led By Alia-Ranveer Scores Big".
41. Tanwar, Sarita A. (16 May 2015). "'Bombay Velvet' review: Despite earnest performances, the film somehow gets derailed".
42. (24 April 2018). "Koffee With Karan Season 6: New Elements To Watch Out For This Year". Mid-day Infomedia.
43. "Karan Johar, Rohit Shetty to judge a new talent show". DNA.
44. (23 December 2021). "Karan Johar shares first glimpse of talent show 'Hunarbaaz' featuring co-judges Parineeti Chopra, Mithun Chakraborty and hosts Bharti-Haarsh – Times of India".
45. (8 February 2022). "Karan Johar, Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath invest in influencer marketing platform Kofluence".
46. (22 October 2024). "Karan Johar, who has a whopping net worth of Rs 1,400 Crore, has invested his wealth in 9 successful brands". Condé Nast India.
47. (July 10, 2024). "SCOOP: Karan Johar directed Triptii Dimri and Vicky Kaushal's passion in 'Jaanam'".
48. (11 July 2024). "Karan Johar Played THIS Role in Vicky Kaushal-Triptii Dimri's Intimate Song Jaanam: Report".
49. (2 January 2008). "Simi, Karan say Shava Shava".
50. (6 February 2024). "'Love Storiyaan': Prime Video Hands Doc Series About Real-Life Indian Love Stories A Valentine's Day Date".