Quotes from Karan Johar

My father was 40 when he had me, so he was more a grandparent than a parent.

I know I don't mind sharing my defects, my deficiencies, partly in the hope that someone will hear it and know that they're not alone.

Sometimes new voices have the most spectacular vision. It is uncluttered and organic.

Marriage is a definite no-no. I am totally married to my company. Emotionally, my mother fills up the void in my life. So there it is. My company is a spouse I will never cheat on, and my mother completes me as a son. I think I have a full family unit of my own.

I am a product of Indian cinema; I've grown up watching Indian films ever since I can remember. And song and dance is part of our lives; it's part of our culture; we wake up to songs, we sleep to lullabies, you know, we celebrate every religious and traditional function with music.

No one wanted to be my friend because of my lunchbox - because I never shared my lunchbox. One day the principal walked in and said, 'No one is friends with Karan Johar; who will be his friend?' My CEO today put his hand up there and said, he will.

My instinct about a human being is paramount. For me, when a director has walked into my room or an assistant that I have hired, who has later gone on to become a director, is purely based on human instinct, be it Ayan Mukerji, Karan Malhotra, Punit Malhotra or Tarun Mansukhani. I am very susceptible to human energy and energy of spaces.

I'm not a walking fleet of vanity vans any more than I'm a walking, talking multi-star cast. I might want an entourage, but so far, it is entirely eluding me.

My college friends call me Karu, which is the worst. Only in our country can we make a short form for a short name. But otherwise, I've never had a pet name all my life. But now, in official meetings, someone will call me KJo. And I'll judge that person in my head. Just call me Karan.

I think the endeavor is to just make your film and then hope it travels as much as it can.

Give me the flash lights, the red carpets, and all that goes with it. Please! Oh, and I love hoardings. I love them. Nothing makes me happier than my face splashed all over the city.

Honesty is wonderful, but I suspect it's also overrated.

I was swept by the narrative structure of film... you can create a world, you can destroy it, you can do what you want with it and serve it to people just the way you like.

As a child, as a cinemagoer, I think there is nothing better than being in a cinema or watching a film. I think it's just a while magical... it almost feels like you're at a big party in India, where you're singing, you're dancing, you're laughing, you're crying, you feel like you're at a wedding because our films invariably cover all emotions.

Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is. I don't need to scream it out. I won't, only because I live in a country where I could possibly be jailed for saying this.

'The Lunchbox' is the kind of cinema that is true to its word and not cluttered or corrupted by some of the mainstream pre-requisites. I love the way I make movies, but there are certain stories that need to be told in a certain way, and 'The Lunchbox' is that movie, and I'm so proud to present this movie.

I'm a proud filmmaker, but everyone seems to have forgotten that. You're introduced, and someone will say, 'Arrey! Karan Johar! He does talk shows! He's judge!' And now my filmmaking has been lost, all my other accomplishments forgotten.

I have never, ever talked about my orientation or sexuality because whether I am heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, it is my concern. I refuse to talk about it... I have not been brought up to talk about my sex life.

I'm not of the religion but I'm educated enough to understand there is a misconception about it globally.

I met Hugh Jackman, and I was like, 'I love your movies!' And, of course, he asked, 'Which one?' A reasonable question, but I blanked completely. In that moment, I couldn't remember a single film that Hugh Jackman had done. So I copped out. 'The recent one!' And that was one of his biggest disasters. Well done, me.

Two powerful people can't be friends.

My very shy Punjabi father never taught me about the birds and bees. So shy was he that he may have thought he would get arrested for even talking about it.

Tell me, who doesn't want to have a family to extend himself/herself?

Few people know that I love local dhaba food. It is the best!