Karan Johar reveals Abhishek Bachchan broke down during 'Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna': 'Rani Mukerji also got sad and...'

Karan Johar’s Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, which completes 20 years in 2026, is arguably his most polarized work as a filmmaker. It tackled the themes of inferiorities, intimacy, infidelity, and callousness. After exploring and exploding with fun and froth, Johar exposed the harsh truths of marital lives and how blisses can turn into overnight blisters.

He assembled an enviable ensemble of Amitabh Bachchan,  Shah Rukh Khan  , Rani Mukerji,  Preity Zinta  , Abhishek Bachchan, and Kirron Kher. And talking to Rani Mukerji as she completed three decades in Hindi cinema, the discussion around this film came up and Johar had something to share.

Karan Johar revealed, “Preity Zinta was getting very personal… I had taken her aside, and we went for a walk. I said, ‘It’s not Preity Zinta. This is Rhea. It’s happening to her.'”

Johar continued, “I remember, at one point, Abhishek broke down… remember there was an emotional scene? I remember he broke down. There were moments when I could just see you (Rani) looking sullen and sad. I realised that everyone was going through beats in their heads because the film talks about ground realities and emotional realities… things that people go through but don’t like to address… It was a very tumultuous experience.”

While interacting exclusively with Firstpost , he opened up on this mammoth cast and how he doesn’t agree that the film was ahead of its times. “I think it was superbly cast, each actor was fantastic. When people say it was ahead of its times, I don’t tend to agree. At any given point of time, a film like this will meet with extreme responses because it hits home truths. It talks about the turbulence marriages go through in the zone of infidelity and that’s always going to be a sticky topic to discuss, cinematically or any platform."

The filmmaker also said, " I’m very proud of that film, there are some moments in that film that will always remain very special to me in my career as a filmmaker, specifically the dining table scene. This is that scene when Mr. Bachchan ends by saying ‘Good joke.’ I feel it’s one of my most favourite moments of my own career."