Karan Johar Wiki, Age, Girlfriend, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Karan Johar

Karan Johar is an Indian film director, producer, writer, and TV host. He is widely referred to as ‘KJo.’ Karan Johar is considered one of the most successful filmmakers in India.

Wiki/Biography

Karan Johar was born as ‘Rahul Kumar Johar’ on 25 May 1972 (age 51 years; as of 2023) in Mumbai. When he was born, his parents gave him the name, Rahul. However, after a few days, they changed it to ‘Karan,’ making him ‘Karan Kumar Johar.’ His zodiac sign is Gemini.

Karan Johar As A Child

Karan Johar As A Child

Karan did his schooling from Greenlawns High School, Mumbai. He attended H.R. College of Commerce & Economics, Mumbai and is an M. A. in French.

Physical Appearance

Height (approx.): 5′ 10″

Eye Colour: Dark Brown

Hair Colour: Black

Family, Caste and Girlfriend

Karan Johar’s father, Yash Johar, was a film producer.

Karan Johar With His Father Yash Johar

Karan Johar With His Father Yash Johar

His mother Hiroo Johar is also a film producer.

Karan Johar With His Mother Hiroo Johar

Karan Johar With His Mother Hiroo Johar

Baldev Raj Chopra and Yash Chopra, the noted filmmakers, are his maternal uncles.

Baldev Raj Chopra

Baldev Raj Chopra

Yash Raj Chopra

Yash Raj Chopra

Dharam Raj Chopra, the cinematographer and Raj Chopra, film distributor are also his maternal uncles. Vimla Chopra is his maternal aunt. Ravi Chopra (film producer and director), Aditya Chopra (filmmaker and director), and Uday Chopra (actor, producer, screenwriter) are his maternal cousins.

Ravi Chopra

Ravi Chopra

Uday Chopra

Uday Chopra

Rani Mukerji is the sister-in-law of Karan Johar, as she is married to his maternal cousin, Aditya Chopra.

Aditya Chopra And Rani Mukerji

Aditya Chopra And Rani Mukerji

Adira Chopra, Kapil Chopra, and Abhay Chopra are Karan Johar’s nephews.

Rani Mukherji With Her Daughter, Adira Chopra

Rani Mukherji With Her Daughter, Adira Chopra

Abhay Chopra

Abhay Chopra

Johar became the father of twins through surrogacy. Karan’s son, Yash’s name, has been taken from his grandfather’s name Yash Chopra, and his daughter’s name ‘Roohi’ is the rearrangement of his mother, Hiroo’s name.

Karan Johar's Children, Yash And Roohi Johar

Karan Johar’s Children, Yash And Roohi Johar

Career

Karan Johar started his career as an actor with the 1989 Doordarshan serial “Indradhanush.”

Karan Johar In A Scene From Indradhanush

Karan Johar In A Scene From Indradhanush

He made his first Bollywood appearance as an actor with the role of a friend of Shah Rukh Khan in the movie “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.”

Karan Johar In A Scene From The Movie "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge"

Karan Johar In A Scene From The Movie “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”

Karan entered the film industry as an assistant director with the movie “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995).” He made his directorial debut with the movie “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), which was a huge blockbuster.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)

He worked as a costume designer for Shah Rukh Khan in many films like “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995),” “Mohabbatein (2000),” “Main Hoon Na (2004),” “Veer-Zaara (2004),” and “Om Shanti Om (2007).” Karan Johar hosts the show, “Koffee with Karan” that airs on Star World. He has also been a judge in many reality shows like “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa” and “India’s Got Talent.” Karan has produced many films under the Dharma Productions, which he took over after his father’s death, the first one being “Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003).”

Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)

He wrote a book on his life titled, “An Unsuitable Boy,” which was published in 2016.

An Unsuitable Boy

Controversies

  • In 2018, there were rumours stating that Karan and actor Prabhas had a rift between them; because Prabhas rejected another film of Karan due to salary issues. Later, Prabhas shut down the rumours saying that the news was fake.
  • Indian film director Ram Gopal Verma and Karan Johar are always in a cold war with each other. The fight started after Ram Gopal expressed his desire to remake “Raavan (2010)” as “My Name Is Raavan,” which was an indirect dig at Karan Johar’s “My Name Is Khan.” Karan replied by saying, “You have an amazing sense of humour Ramu! Never shows up in your films though.” A similar thing happened at the time of Karan’s movie, “Student Of The Year (2019),” when Ram Gopal tweeted that if someone takes off Karan Johar’s student of the year from Teacher of the Year, it will become a disaster of the year. To which Karan replied, ” Disaster is your territory Ramu….No one can ever replace the comfortable place you have made for yourself there.” Karan Johar's Tweet On Ram Gopal Verma's Comments
  • In 2016, reportedly, Ajay Devgn suspected that Karan was paying Kamal Rashid Khan for only praising Karan’s upcoming film “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” and discrediting Ajay Devgn’s film Shivaay.
  • After Uri Attack in September 2016, MNS and Shiv Sena demanded the Pakistani artistes to leave India and also asked the filmmakers to remove their scenes from the film. Though the actors Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan left India, Karan still supported them on twitter. Karan was found being threatened by MNS, who said that they would be beating Karan if he continued to work with Pakistani Actors.
  • In Kofee With Karan, Anushka Sharma revealed how Karan Johar touched her inappropriately on the sets of “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.” Anushka even said that she was going to file a sexual harassment case against him and further added that even Jacqueline Fernandez once complained about Karan touching her inappropriately.”
  • He attracted controversy over his statement on Anushka Sharma’s character in the film “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016).” In his statement, he gave a weird reason about Anushka’s character’s death in the film. He said-

    Yes, the last track met with many polarised responses and rightfully so, but I was like she didn’t love him (Ranbir Kapoor), she has to die. I wrote this character. He loved her so crazily. She could’ve loved him back, why couldn’t she? So she got cancer and she died.”

  • In September 2020, amid the Bollywood drug row, which was investigated by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Karan Johar’s name also surfaced; following this, various news channels started implicating him to host a drug party in 2019, and a video of that alleged drug party, which surfaced for the first time in 2019, had resurfaced on news channels. In the video, many Bollywood celebrities, including Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Shahid Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Malaika Arora, and Arjun Kapoor, and filmmakers Zoya Akhtar and Ayan Mukerji, were spotted high on drugs. [2]News 18 Later, the NCB arrested former Dharmatic Entertainment (the digital arm of Dharma Productions) employee Kshitij Prasad and questioned him for hours. [3]Hindustan Times On 25 September 2020, Karan Johar took to Twitter to clarify his stance over his name being dragged in the drug row. In this Twitter, post, Kan Johar refuted the allegations of hosting any drug party and said that he had never consumed drugs; he also warned to take legal action in the matter.

Awards

National Film Awards

  • For Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment for the movie “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” in 2000
  • Special Jury Award for the film ‘Shershaah,’ presented by Droupadi Murmu, the President of India, in New Delhi on 17 October 2023

    Karan Johar while holding the Special Jury Award, received at the 69th National Film Awards

    Karan Johar while holding the Special Jury Award, received at the 69th National Film Awards

Filmfare Awards 

Karan Johar With His Filmfare Award

    Karan Johar With His Filmfare Award
  • Best Director for the film “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” in 1999
  • Best Screenplay for the film “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” in 1999
  • Best Dialogue for the film “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham” in 2002
  • Best Director for the film “My Name Is Khan” in 2011
  • Best Film for “Raazi” in 2019

State Awards

  • Padma Shri in 2020 Karan Johar receiving Padma Shri from President Ram Nath Kovind

Favourites

  • Food: Parsi Food
  • Filmmakers: Raj Kapoor, Yash Chopra, Sooraj R. Barjatya, Rajkumar Hirani
  • Destination: New York
  • TV Show: The Golden Girls
  • Drink: Saint Emilion (Wine), Dom Perignon (Pink Champagne)
  • Fashion Brand: Givenchy
  • Perfume: Creed
  • Restaurant: Starbucks Cofee in Mumbai

Cars Collection

He owns a Jaguar XF.

Net Worth

His net worth is about ₹835 crore ($172 million).

Facts

  • Since his childhood, he used to love dancing to old Bollywood songs and was a big fan of Bollywood films.

    Karan Johar Dancing

    Karan Johar Dancing

  • He wanted to become a hairstylist at the age of 4, a doctor at 10, copywriter at 15 and finally got settled with filmmaking at the age of 20.
  • Initially, Karan used to follow numerology as he used to create titles of his movies in which, the first word began with the letter ‘K.’ After watching the 2006 film, “Lage Raho Munna Bhai,” Karan decided to stop this practice. On the film’s effect on him, he said-

    When I moved out of the cinema hall after watching Lage Raho Munna Bhai in New York, I thought I should drop the K. It was the effect the film had on me. It inspires you to tell the truth and fills you with inspiration and gain power. I want to overcome this and become more powerful. That is not the say I will drop K from my name and become Aran.”

  • He is very attached to his mother and sometimes is referred to as ‘Mumma’s Boy.’
  • Karan came into film direction by assisting his uncle Late Yash Chopra in some of his films.

    Karan Johar And Yash Chopra

    Karan Johar And Yash Chopra

  • He can speak French fluently.
  • Karan is a cricket freak and loves playing it whenever he gets time.
  • Karan is the first Indian filmmaker to become a jury member in Miss World Contest held at Warshaw, Poland in 2016.
  • Apart from the former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Karan is the only Indian to be invited at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
  • Karan was chosen as one of the 250 Global Young Leaders in 2007 by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum 2006.
  • He was appointed as the cultural leader in the World Economic Forum in 2017.
  • He loves wearing a velvet jacket.
  • Karan Johar used to be good at delivering speeches and participated in elocutions during his school days. He even won several competitions.
  • In an interview, Karan talked about the making of the film ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…’ He revealed that his father initially thought that it would be quite impossible to cast Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, and Kajol in one film. Karan, however, began by approaching Amitabh Bachchan first due to his seniority. Afterwards, he visited Jaya Bachchan separately to maintain her distinct identity. Karan mentioned that Shah Rukh Khan promptly agreed to join the project, while Kajol was deeply moved by the script. Kareena Kapoor, on the other hand, envisioned her role as an iconic part of the film. [4]The Indian Express

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