When Karan Johar Watched KANK Again and Found It 'Boring': 'Sh*t, These Item Songs Don't...'

Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna turned 18 today, August 11. The film starred a stellar star cast — Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta, and Kirron Kher. KANK, as it was popularly referred to, touched upon the bold subject of infidelity and showed the country’s romantic hero, SRK in a grey light. The film received strongly divided reactions from the audience. While people had all kind of things to say about the film, Karan once admitted he realised the film needed more work long after it was released.

Speaking with Rediff in 2009, Karan revealed he rewatched the film when it was playing on a television channel and realised that the film is long, ‘boring’ and a few songs did not fit into the narration properly. “Kabhi Alvida was coming on TV the other day, and I was like ‘it’s half an hour too long; sh*t, it’s too boring; sh*t, these item songs don’t work; it’s overcast.’ And none of that was told to me when I was making it. And we had a really good group of young, energetic, evolved people around me,” he said.

“But we love our work. We go on set, and with an equal amount of passion. None of us are dishonest about what we do, but no one actually tells you. It’s important to try your level best to self-analyse, and I think the older you grow, your degree of self-analysis increases. When you’re young, you’re more innocent and honest and, I would say, vulnerable, whereas now we may not be,” Karan added.

Today, as the film completes 18 years, Karan took to Instagram and shared a heartfelt post. He shared a video collage featuring the lead cast and wrote, “KANK was the road that I need not have taken but it was the best decision I made to take it…till date! This film not only gave me the best of the times with my absolutely phenomenal cast that honestly, were more my family – but it also gave me the courage to tell stories that I put my conviction into about relationships that were messy but beautiful…just like life? Here’s to 18 years of #KabhiAlvidaNaaKehna!❤️”.