What! Karan Johar reveals how father Yash Johar was against his assistant debut in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

MUMBAI: Karan Johar has often spoken about his close bond with his late father, Yash Johar. Since childhood, he was Karan’s biggest cheerleader. 

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But when he showed interest in filmmaking and told his father that he wants to assist Aditya Chopra on his debut directorial film, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), he faced opposition from him. 

The late film producer wanted his son to start his career in the Hindi film industry with another film director and not Aditya Chopra.

In an old interview with journalist Karan Thapar, Karan narrated how Aditya Chopra pushed him to assist him on DDLJ after discussing the film’s script with him for three weeks. 

“One fine day, he said now that you have been so closely associated with the screenplay, why don’t you assist me? I told him I can’t make a Hindi film. It’s not in me. I can’t direct a film. He said, ‘think about it you have it in you,'” recalled Karan.

Unsure about what to do, Karan decided to run the idea through his mother, who sent him to his father Yash Johar. The senior Johar told him, “Why are you assisting Aditya? Assist Yash Chopra, he is a big man.” 

Karan managed to convince his father by saying, “Something makes me feel I should assist him. Just give me this one year and let me see what happens. And this is how it happened.”

Today, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, enjoys a cult status. The film has a separate fandom and it continues to entertain movie buffs at Maratha Mandir, the single-screen cinema hall in Mumbai which has been screening the film ever since its release in 1995. Besides assisting Aditya Chopra, Karan also ended up acting in it.

In a recent interview, Karan Johar remembered his late father fondly. “He was a very very progressive thinking and a very open-hearted, large-hearted man. He never made me feel like I was different from anybody else,” the filmmaker spoke about Yash Johar during an interview with Bollywood Bubble.

Born on September 6, 1952, Yash Johar came to Mumbai to become a photographer and eventually ended up joining the production houses of Bollywood stars Sunil Dutt and Dev Anand. 

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It was in 1976 that he started his own production house, Dharma Productions, which is now run by Karan. Yash passed away in June 2004 due to a chest infection.

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Credits - The Indian Express