Kajol with Karan Johar at a party. (courtesy: kajol)
The latest episode of Koffee With Karan 8 was the perfect walk down memory lane as the guests were Kajol and Rani Mukerji. The two superstars are not only cousins and frequent collaborators but also BFFs of Karan Johar, the show's host. Needless to say, the episode saw them discussing personal and professional trials and triumphs – and some old controversies. We are talking about Karan Johar and Kajol's infamous rift that lasted over two years. Given their famous friendship, when the two had a falling out in 2016, it made headlines. Speaking about the rough patch, Karan Johar shared that during their rift, he sensed people adding fuel to the fire and asked Kajol about the same. Karan Johar said, “In the two years that Kajol and I didn't speak which was a heartbreaking part of both of our lives…We won't discuss what happened because it is all in the past… But did you realise that there were people who were actually feeding fire into us when we weren't talking?”
Kajol, not one to mince her words, said: “Yes absolutely…But honestly, I am not going to get into this. I don't want to discuss this topic anymore. It's over. And it is done with and we are not rehashing this. You did it. You rehashed it once on national television. We are not redoing that,” and brought the line of conversation to an end. To this, Karan Johar readily agreed and apologised for bringing the matter up.
For context, the rift between Karan Johar and Kajol began when Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Shivaay helmed and headlined by Ajay Devgn – Kajol's husband – clashed at the box office on Diwali, 2016. Ahead of the release of the films, Ajay Devgn posted bits of a phone conversation where film critic Kamaal R Khan claimed to Shivaay co-producer Kumar Mangat that Karan Johar had paid him Rs 25 lakh for a favourable review of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. While KRK later alleged that Karan had not paid him and that he had only said what he did to end the exchange with Mr Mangat, Kajol tweeted: "Shocked!" seemingly in her husband's favour.
The tweet did not go down well with Karan Johar, who dedicated a chapter to the [then] strained relationship between Kajol and him in his autobiography, An Unsuitable Boy. An excerpt from the chapter on the matter reads, “That tweet validated the insanity that she could believe I could bribe someone. I felt that's it. It's over. And she can never come back to my life. I don't think she wants to either. I never want to have anything to do with them as a unit. She was the one who mattered to me and now it's over…The problem was actually never between her and me. It was between her husband and me, something which only she knows about, he knows about and I know about. But did feel that she needed to apologise for something she didn't do. I felt that she's not going to acknowledge 25 years of friendship, if she wants to support her husband, then that's her prerogative…I wouldn't like to give her a piece of myself to her at all because she's killed every bit of emotion I had for her for 25 years. I don't think she deserves me. I feel nothing for her anymore.”
However, following the birth of Karan Johar's twins Yash and Roohi, the friends extended an olive branch to one another with Kajol “liking” the social media announcement on the happy development by the filmmaker. In 2018, two years after the fight, Kajol and Ajay Devgn made an appearance on Koffee With Karan 6.
In another episode of this season of Koffee With Karan with Sara Ali Khan and Ananya Panday, Karan Johar revealed how the rift between Kajol and him ended. Karan Johar shared that he had sent the actress pictures of his children. “I said you don't need to reply but these are what my children look like - Yash and Roohi. She messaged back and she said, ‘I am just full of love right now.' A month later, she said, 'It's my birthday, you don't have to come,' but I went. We hugged, we cried and it was done,” Karan shared.
Now, the latest episode is proof that the Bollywood BFFs are here to stay. Here's a promo of the fun episode:
Koffee With Karan 8 premieres on Disney + Hotstar every Thursday.