Eating Out

The famous Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham director has slimmed down considerably and appears much taller. While Karan forks his salad, the conversation veers to his next production. Starring his favourite Shahrukh, "but naturally", it will be a launchpad for Karan’s associate director, Nikhil Advani. "We started off by writing a thriller but ended up with an unconventional drama based on another one of Nikhil’s ideas," says Karan. But he won’t say more about it, only that it’ll have a voiceover, interesting cameos and a sitcom flavour. Karan obviously likes working with friends. His association with Nikhil, who had collaborated with Sudhir Mishra on the screenplay of Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, also goes back a long way. "He was a year senior to me in Green Lawns school and I hated him. I thought he had an attitude problem and our paths rarely crossed," says Karan. But his search for an assistant director for K3G brought Nikhil back into his life and within a few days they were best buddies.

"It’s all about loving your parents" was the ad line for K3G. But it’s not just a clever line, insists Karan. He does dote on his dad and mom. With two mega successes, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and K3G, behind him, Karan says he is "petrified" of failure. "Not so much for myself but for the effect it’ll have on my parents," he says. Karan’s father, Yash, is a Punjabi and his mother, Hiroo, a Sindhi. Karan, however, considers himself more of a Sindhi. "The emotions in my films are Punjabi but my food habits are Sindhi. Besides, temperamentally, I am more like my mother," he says.

Perhaps it’s to do with his fitness fixation, Karan just dismisses the idea of dessert. Chef Dev jokes that he has been so involved in the conversation that he hasn’t done justice to the food. But Dev needn’t be disappointed. Karan had booked a table for six for the same evening. He would return to live it up with friends.