4 minutes of readingNew DelhiFebruary 9, 2026 22:11 IST
Karan Johar may be one of the most sought-after filmmakers in the Indian film industry today, but his journey began far from the director’s chair. He started out as Aditya Chopra’s assistant on the 1995 classic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, working as a wardrobe assistant, a phase he now remembers with equal parts nostalgia and trauma. In fact, Karan Johar has openly admitted that legendary choreographer Saroj Khan “made his life hell” during filming.. “I was traumatized,” Karan said as he recalled those early days.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter India, Karan shared a memorable incident from the shooting of the iconic song “Mehndi Laga Ke Rakhna”. While the costumes were primarily designed by Manish Malhotra and Aditya Chopra’s mother Pamela Chopra, it was Karan’s responsibility to ensure that everything fit on the set.
“At that time, dad’s costume was my biggest ally,” Karan recalled, adding, “Manish would come in the morning, hand over the clothes and leave. I was the costume assistant and Pam aunty was deeply involved in the process. She made the clothes and supervised everything, and I helped her. She was completely on top of everything.”
Problems arose when a last-minute order was made for red scarves for the dancers during the now iconic ‘Shaava’ step. “We just didn’t have enough fabric. The little red fabric I could find was only enough to carry in one hand because there were so many dancers,” she said.
Realizing the impracticality of fulfilling the request in such a short time, Karan tried to think quickly. “To save the situation, I went to Jojo, Saroj ji’s assistant, and very cleverly suggested to him that it would look stylish if the dancers put one hand in their pocket and held the scarf in the other. I told him that otherwise it might look like ‘Yamma Yamma’. He thought it was a great idea.”
However, the plan quickly fell apart. “Saroj ji came and said, ‘Okay, show me.’ She immediately asked, ‘Where is the other hand?’ When her assistant explained the idea to her, she got lost.”
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What followed, says Karan Johar, was pure panic. “She grabbed me, literally pushed me, and told me, ‘Go wherever you need to go. Go to Goregaon, bring the red fabric or I won’t shoot.’ I remember running through the streets of Goregaon in my dad’s costume, desperately searching for red satin fabric. I was scared for my life. I was traumatized. It was terrifying.”
Despite his fear, Karan was quick to recognize Saroj Khan’s brilliance. “She was scary, but she was the best,” she said candidly. “She didn’t like me at all. She just wasn’t happy with me.”
Recalling another moment from “Tujhe Dekha Toh Yeh Jaana Sanam”, Karan admitted his tendency to offer unsolicited opinions. “There was a montage where I gifted dungarees to Shah Rukh and Kajol. She looked at them and said, ‘Yeh baba baby banke kyun aaye hain?’ I responded again. “I was horrified,” she laughed. “She would say, ‘Yeh kyun Bolta rehta hai?’ Because I was always giving my grain of sand.”
She added that Aditya Chopra often gave her a warning look. “Adi would just look at me and say, ‘Why are you opening your mouth?’ “I really didn’t know any better back then.”