Karan Johar has said he is almost trying to dissuade his children from joining Bollywood, and the reason he gave was plain. The filmmaker said he will be too old to protect them by the time they are ready to start. The remark came during a conversation about parenting and the film industry on an episode of Koffee With Karan, with actors Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor as guests.
Karan Johar is the father of twins, Yash and Roohi, whom he welcomed through surrogacy in February 2017. He heads Dharma Productions, and he has launched several star children in Hindi cinema over the years. That history made the remark stand out, because it came from a man who knows the launch system from the inside.
Karan Johar on why he is dissuading his children
Karan Johar put it in his own words on the show. He said, “Well, look, as I said, it is not an easy place. It is tough. I am almost dissuading my children from the business. And everybody says, ‘Why are you doing that? Why are you doing that?'” He then added, “I am like, look, I will be too old to protect them at that time.”
He said that although he is deeply connected to the business himself, he is conscious of the difficulties and pressures that come with being part of Bollywood. The remark was reported by IANS on 5 November, and it spread across film media the same day. He did not say his children want to join the industry, and he did not name any plan for them.
Karan Johar and the pressure of the film industry
The pressure he described is familiar to anyone who follows Hindi cinema. Newcomers face close public scrutiny, and the children of film families face a second layer of it, with their debuts judged against their parents. He has spoken in the past about the scrutiny that follows his own family, and about keeping his children away from film sets while they were small.
The conversation also touched on how the industry treats newcomers from film families. Launches come with coverage that few outsiders receive, and the same coverage turns into scrutiny when a debut does not land. Karan Johar has watched that cycle from both sides, as a producer who stages launches and as a father who sees what the attention can do.
Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor both spoke about raising children in the public eye during the episode. Saif has four children, and Kareena has two sons, so the discussion drew on their own experience as much as on the host’s.
Kareena Kapoor offered a different view during the same conversation. She said parents can sometimes be overprotective, and that too much protection may itself hold children back. Her point gave the exchange a second side, with one parent warning about the industry and another warning about the instinct to shield children from it.
The twins are nine years old, so any decision about a film career is years away. Karan Johar has said before that he will not force the industry on his children, and that they should make their own choices about what they want to do.
Karan Johar as a father and a filmmaker
He became a single father in February 2017, when Yash and Roohi were born through surrogacy. He has spoken often about raising them with his mother, Hiroo Johar, and about keeping their daily lives separate from his work. The children have grown up around film scripts and cameras, but their father has kept them out of the public side of the business.
The remark also fits a wider conversation in Hindi cinema about star children and the launches that Dharma Productions has staged. Karan Johar has guided the debuts of actors from film families, and he has faced questions about that practice. His own children, he made clear, will not get the same push from him.
The episode with Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor aired as part of the current season of Koffee With Karan. The show has long been a place where Karan Johar talks about his own life as well as his guests, and this time the subject was his children and the business he has spent his career in.