Despite housefull shows, Karan Johar was told that 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' is not as big as 'Gadar: Ek Prem Katha'

Karan Johar

Karan Johar often reflects on his past work with a eye of scrutiny. While he has hits like 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' and 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' to his credit, he has often said how he was not confident of the latter. The multi-starrer 'K3G' was released in 2001, a year when Sunny Deol's 'Gadar: Ek Prem Katha' was considered a benchmark for commercial success.

Talking about the year of K3G's release in an interview with Pinkvilla, Johar said, "I called up everybody (his distributors after the release of K3G), the Punjab distributor said, ‘Han, bahut badi hit hai par Gadar jaisi nahi hai' (Yes, it's a very big hit, but not like Gadar) (laughs). So I said, ‘Theek hai bhaiya. Number 2 toh hai na. Wo main seh loonga. Par flop toh nahi hai na? (It's okay. But it's number 2, no? I can bear that. But it's not a flop, right?).' He said, ‘Kya bol rahe ho! Full shows ja rahe hain (What are you saying? All the shows are full).' So I was like, ‘Thank God',"

Karan Johar had made his directorial debut with 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' in 1998. The film that starred Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Rani Mukerji in the lead won several awards as well. Therefore when 'K3G' did not win as many awards, Karan Johar found it to be a humbling experience. ""That was a really grounding experience for me. I fell back on my feet and realised that you just have to work and don't expect anything from the beginning. Because there's no replacement for hard work," Karan said.

Directed by Anil Sharma, 'Gadar: Ek Prem Katha' had released in June of 2001, while 'K3G' was released in December of the same year. The same year also saw the release of Ashutosh Gowariker's hit film 'Lagaan' with Aamir Khan in the lead. The film was sent to the Oscars as India's official entry. Among other notable films were Farhan Akhtar's directorial debut 'Dil Chahta Hai', starring Aamir, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna, and Madhur Bhandarkar's National Award-winning film Chandni Bar, starring Tabu.