When Karan Johar apologised to Shabana Azmi for 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'

‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ might be one of the most-loved films of all time that enjoys a cult following even today, but the movie had not pleased Shabana Azmi. Karan Johar termed it as the ‘most politically incorrect film’ and remembered how even the veteran actress was unhappy about the director showing that girls will short hair are not attractive, but those with long hair are. The filmmaker stated that he even apologised to her for the same. KJo added that he didn’t have anything else to say to her since he knew that she was right. 

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Politically incorrect

Karan recently opened up on ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. He said, “ KKHH is the most politically incorrect film. I remember (actress) Shabana Azmi saw the film somewhere in the UK and she called me. She was aghast," he recalled, adding: "She told me, 'what have you shown? That a girl has short hair, so she's not attractive, and now her hair is long and she's pretty? What do you have to say to this?' I said I'm sorry. She said, ‘what? that's all you have to say?' I said yes because I know you're right." 

In the movie, Shah Rukh’s character Rahul and Anjali are best friends, but he doesn’t reciprocate her feelings when she falls in love with her. He prefers instead falls in love with Rani Mukerji’s character Tina who was more ‘attractive’ while Anjali, with short hair is considered a ‘tomboy.’ Rahul, however, finds her attractive when they meet after over 10 years, when she has long hair. 

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KJo also shared the casting process of the movie, that SRK and Kajol had promised they’d do his first film. He even tricked the former into buying into story, "I was ecstatic to meet SRK. Kajol and he had promised that they would work in my first film. So, I remember going to meet him and I had no script, and just had a scene in my mind, which I narrated to him.” 

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Casting woes

However, casting for Rani’s character was tough, being faced with  rejections, before it worked out. Karan revealed, “I told him if you like this one scene then I will narrate the entire film to you, which was completely a lie... Tabu, Urmila (Urmila Matondkar), Aishwarya (Aishwarya Rai) turned me down, and Ash was the only one who was polite to call me back. It took months to cast for Rani's part after Aditya Chopra recommended her." 

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