NEW DELHI: He agrees that there was “a distance” between him and Shah Rukh Khan in recent years but filmmaker Karan Johar says he is back in the superstar’s life because a friendship so strong “just cannot die”.
Karan writes he should not have gone on record to say that he will only work with Shah Rukh as he could not live up to his promise.
“When two people are so close. When they have done six feature films together and then haven’t worked together on the set for a while there is bound to be a gap. That is the way the industry is,” Karan writes in chapter titled “Shah Rukh Khan” in his autobiography “An Unsuitable Boy”. Karan writes that Shah Rukh is a “possessive” friend and he may have been hurt when the director went on to make a film without him. “Shah Rukh is a very possessive person. He is a possessive friend. I think I may have hurt him when I made a film without him. And I think I got hurt because when I did, I felt he didn’t give me that paternal or fraternal feeling that I had from him otherwise. I think we were two hurt friends for no reason.” He writes that they both are aware of the fact that people are “envious” of their friendship which is why they never had a “blowout”. “There was a simmering silent, respectable distance between us. But, there is also an equal amount of love an affection we have for each other. That’s never going to go. “…He can ask me for anything and I will do it… There is a big layer of love and respect still, and no one can come in the way of that.” Talking about how they finally bridge the “distance” Karan writes “I’m kind of back in Shah Rukh’s life in a way. When the origin of the friendship is so strong, it just cannot die. I’ve not allowed to either, and neither has he. It happened organically. “We met at Deepika’s party celebrating Piku’s success at one point when we were talking, we looked at each other I hugged him instinctively and said, ‘I’ve missed you’. And he said, ‘You’ve no idea how much I’ve missed you.’ We had this moment.” Karan writes Shah Rukh has always been his “first go to person” and when he had a fall out with Kajol recently, he instinctively reached out to the actor. “When I had a falling out with Kajol. The first call I made was to Shah Rukh. He came to meet, spoke about it to me. Then I called Adi and we discussed it. My instinct was to call Shah Rukh first. He had nothing to do with the problem. But I still called him because somewhere Shah Rukh, Kajol and I have been so close.” The filmmaker writes Shah Rukh and he may have their “ups and downs” but the superstar will always be a family to him.—PTI
