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Karan Johar fans, I’ll let you into a little secret. The flamboyant filmmaker and irrepressible impresario of the Koffee With Karan chat show does not like coffee. He drinks tea. What’s in his big signature orange coffee mug he keeps sipping out of when chatting with the stars is Diet Coke. I know. I went on the swanky sets of Koffee With Karan at YRF Studios the day before the seventh season of India’s popular talk show premiered on Disney+ Hotstar. I was given coffee. Frothy, dark and strong. Handmade, not out of a machine. While KJo sat animated talking and demurely sipped Diet Coke like it was the real deal. He is a sparkling conversationalist. Like a bottle of champagne opened that does not stop flowing. Heady and bubbly. And he also has a deprecating sense of humour. He can take a joke just as well as make one.
Excerpts from my interview…
It’s been 18 years of Koffee With Karan and the show keeps getting bigger, bolder and better. How have you evolved over 18 years?
When I was watching the first season, I looked at myself and felt like an innocent child with a head full of curiosity. My evolution is evident with each season. I got more comfortable on my own couch. I became less worried about consequences, more unapologetic, more unabashed and I became more me. I was supposed to be a good boy trying to ask questions that were more fun and frivolous but the way I was asking them was more poised and trying to please. Now, I am sitting, laughing when I want to. If I get bored, that can be seen on my face. My face has become a mirror.
How do you draw up your guest list?
It is more about the comfort two people share with each other. I chat with both and ask if they are comfortable with each other and then make the combination. Many times, it has to do with them doing a film together or having a release coming up. I try to keep the promotional episodes to the bare minimum. That’s not the vibe of the show. The vibe of the show is a freewheeling chat with a lot of candidness, frivolousness and a lot of rubbish being discussed which has no consequence on what’s important to the world. I am not proud of that but that’s the vibe of the show.
We are living in insensitive and intolerant times with people taking objection to any little thing. Is that forcing you to pull your punches on the show?
There was a lot of chatter around the ‘Rank In Order Of’ segment in the rapid-fire round. We have dropped that this season. I felt that was creating a lot of negativity. Ranking people was not right. Perhaps that was an error made by me and I take the full onus for that. That’s one factor I thought was causing rivalry and negativity. Now, I felt like focusing on making the show fun and not sensational. The idea is to let’s have more fun. People like to see celebrities having fun as well. I don’t want any great scandals or revelations. I don’t ever ask anything that’s not in the public domain.
Has a vigilante social media made the stars, particularly the younger ones, more guarded about what they show on Koffee With Karan?
Yes, they are. They are careful with their words but the fun element has still not gone. Maybe they don’t mention names but they insinuate it.
If you could do an episode with one American chat host, who would it be?
Ellen DeGeneres! I love her for the way she is candid and informed.
You are a sympathetic 2 am friend to most celebrities. But on the couch, you become a roguish shrink and make them reveal dark, intimate secrets...
I never ask any dark secrets or unknown facts in an offensive manner. I don’t say, “Tell me the truth.” If you even react in a certain way, that is the answer to it. Many times, they all deny but I pester them and sit on their heads so that something will come out of it. I do it in fun. There has been no celebrity who felt uncomfortable sitting in front of me. The reverse has happened (laughs).
The media thinks you are the biggest source or recipient of gossip. Do you use what you hear on the show?
No. I don't use all the gossip I have heard, I use what I have read. What I know of, I don’t want the world to know. People club me with Kareena Kapoor Khan when it comes to gossip. Gossip is what, information about people in the industry and everyone has it. Film sets are the biggest hubs of spreading news. It is not me, I am not sitting omnipresent. I just hear but never ask anything about what I had heard in private about something that they would get thrown off by.
Did you miss Koffee With Karan during the lockdown? Did you watch the reruns?
No, I didn’t watch it. I never watch myself. I don’t like looking at myself. I never watch the TV shows I judge or award shows I host.
If you were an actor, would you fear coming on Koffee With Karan?
No, I would have loved it.
A source shared that you never drink coffee on the show. Is that true?
Yes, it is Diet Coke in the mug. Sometimes I do go to Starbucks to have a Frappuccino. I don’t drink coffee, I drink tea.
You are always nattily dressed. How long does it take for you to get ready?
I have timed it. I know what I am wearing and my stylist Eka Lakhani and her team are amazing, and everything is lined up for me. I take only 2 minutes to get into those clothes and 22 minutes for hair and makeup. I am ready in 24 minutes. Only when my greys are showing and they have to colour it so that I can maintain my jawani, I go up to 28 minutes. I always tell my team to call me 30 minutes before and not 2 hours prior.
If you could go back in time, and Koffee With Karan to the US, who would you prefer to interview – Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson?
Michael Jackson. He was a mystery. There is so much I wonder about him. Elvis was much more of an open book. There is still a shroud of doubt around his being. I have seen Michael Jackson’s interviews and felt he held a lot back. As an interviewer, I would have definitely done it with him.
Was 2004 a bitter-sweet year for you? The show made its debut in November but you lost your father, Yash Johar ji, in June that year. What would he have said about Koffee With Karan?
When my father was alive, I had told him this thought and he said, “Accha tum apne doston ko bulaoge aur baat karoge aur log dekhenge yeh?” I was like “Yes, stars seem interested.” He said, “Why would someone pay you for calling your friends and talking to them joh tu roz party mein karta hai?" He didn’t understand the logic. He asked me, “Tu Tabassum banna chahta hai?” After Tabassum, there was Simi Garewal. He told me, “Tu aise show karna chahta hai aur itne paise le raha hai?” His whole thing was why would someone pay so much for a show like this.
When he passed away, I took a few weeks as I wasn’t emotionally prepared. Star still pursued me. I signed a contract for 2 seasons (of Koffee With Karan) and they paid me five times the amount my father was aware of. Even then I didn’t think the show would be what it was.
I remember the first day of its telecast, I was at a funeral. A close family friend’s grandfather had passed away and we were around 100 people. At that time, one wouldn’t think of keeping the phone in silent mode. Around the telecast time, my phone started buzzing. It was a bizarre feeling. Everyone in front of me was sad and I was dying to see the reactions to the first episode of the show. After the funeral, I rushed to my car and saw at least 100 messages. I never expected that the show would get this kind of reaction. Now, 18 years later I am sitting here, having done 7 seasons and I cannot believe we lasted this long. This is not something I imagined or dreamt of.
Watch the interview here:
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