Karan Johar on Polarising Reviews of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna

Mumbai, August 10 — Bollywood multi-hyphenate Karan Johar, marking the 20th anniversary of his directorial Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, has shared personal anecdotes about the polarising first-hand audience reactions the film received at the time of its release.

On Monday, Johar took to Instagram and wrote a detailed note describing the range of emotions he encountered from viewers, many of whom strongly rejected the film upon its theatrical debut.

He recalled attending a paid preview the night before the release. Sitting behind a traditionally dressed middle-aged couple, he observed their growing discomfort. When the characters Dev and Maya enter a hotel elevator and give in to their desire, the woman dropped her popcorn in shock. Her husband initially assumed it was a dream sequence. Realising it was not, he angrily indicated they should leave. The couple exited the cinema, leaving Johar’s heart sinking.

Outside, a woman approached him with her crying daughter. She confronted him, saying she had brought her child to see a “happy film with songs and dances and family values” because it was a Karan Johar film, only to find it screened on the day her daughter finalised her divorce. “Shame on you,” she told him. Johar said he quickly moved away, encountering more angry faces.

The film opened to sharply divided reviews and audience feedback. Some called it brave and his best work; others labelled it anti-“sanskaari” and directed intense criticism at it. Weeks later, at an airport lounge, a woman told him she loved the film but had lied to her husband by saying she hated it. When Johar asked why, she explained that admitting she liked it would have required her to discuss what she appreciated about it, so it felt safer to pretend otherwise.

Johar acknowledged the film’s flaws. He described it as over-bloated in scale and noted that some of its opulent songs were unnecessary, included to meet his then-understanding of mainstream expectations. Yet he maintained that the film’s heart was in the right place.

“I knew it was touching a raw nerve, a fact of life we as a society like to brush under our value-based carpets… a reality we don’t want thrown at us by our beloved movie stars and icons,” he wrote.

He clarified that the film never intended to endorse infidelity. Instead, it showed that stepping outside the boundary of marriage to seek love or desire can destroy the foundation of a family. The choice, he emphasised, is one individuals must make without judgment. Stories and films, he added, are meant to provoke thought or recognition. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna achieved that; viewers either loved or hated it, but rarely felt indifferent.

Twenty years later, Johar said he meets people who could not relate to the film at the time but understand it better now. Life, he observed, sometimes provides answers to questions people never wanted to ask. Relationships rarely offer purely black-and-white solutions; viewing them through a grey lens may lead to greater self-understanding.

Johar concluded by expressing lasting gratitude to the cast and crew, saying he remains indebted to them for their passion and compassion.

The anniversary reflection revisits a film that challenged conventional Bollywood narratives around marriage and desire, sparking debate that continues to resonate with audiences two decades on.