Is Karan Johar growing out of gossip, or just growing up?
Every neighbourhood has a gossip monger who knows who is dating whom, whose wedding is off, and who is “just friends”. For eight seasons, Karan Johar has played that role for Bollywood. But now, he seems ready to finally retire that mantle, at least publicly.
On 30 September, Johar announced that the ninth season of Koffee With Karan will be its last. It is set to premiere on JioHotstar on 14 October. The timing is hard to ignore, because the Karan Johar brand is no longer defined by Bollywood alone. Gossip may be for the neighbourhood, but the gossip-monger has gone global.
In April, he sat down with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway during the Tokyo promotions of The Devil Wears Prada 2. The 54-year-old gushed over Streep and confessed to having watched the original 2006 movie more than 200 times. Hathaway asked whether he judges people’s shoes, and he replied, “All the time.”
Then, he made his MET Gala debut. In May, KJO walked the red carpet wearing an outfit called “Framed in Eternity,” an ode to modern Indian artist Raja Ravi Varma, aligning with the 2026 Met Gala theme “Costume Art” with the dress code “Fashion is Art.”
Four months later, the stage got bigger. In September, he was announced as host of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize awards, to be held in Mumbai on 17 November, where five winners will each take home £1 million. He appeared with the Prince of Wales in a joint video announcing the news.
In these appearances, you got to see a more composed, polished and mature version of the filmmaker, who is also establishing himself as a professional host beyond the Koffee couch and haze of gossip that surrounds him.
It seems that Johar wants to shed the image of a host who coaxes saucy dating confessions out of actors and build a new one, with more gravitas, and one that has greater appeal in the global market.
Also Read: No one does gossip like Karan Johar. He knows how to spill the tea on Koffee with Karan
Onwards and upwards?
The question is whether audiences will accept this more measured version of Johar without missing the mischievous insider who made Koffee with Karan so memorable. The chat show is in a league of its own, despite desperate attempts by many to compare it to the Graham Norton Show. Our favourite busybody knows the ins and outs of Bollywood, but he also knows how to suss out gossip—aka, who is dating whom, who is throwing shade, and who will say something unfiltered. KJO’s infamous “Koffee couch” will even have someone like Sonam Kapoor call established A-listers Kriti Sanon and Kiara Advani “underrated.”
To be fair to Johar, he has tried to change that. In May 2022, after six seasons, he announced on Instagram that the show wouldn’t return, even though it came back that July. When season eight arrived in October 2023, the filmmaker had dropped hints that the new season would correct the “perceived wrongs” of earlier episodes. And the result was… well, a rather dull couch.
The reviews were, rightfully so, unforgiving. Some found the premiere unusually sanitised and the games short on heat. Another reviewer found the season tame and PR-driven. So perhaps the cleanest way out is to leave.
Whatever the real reason, sleuths are never really satisfied. They linger at the door for one last piece of information. The final season arrives tomorrow, with Salman Khan as the opener. If the teaser is anything to go by, both Khan and Johar said that “this is the finale season, so this can go anywhere.”
So fans can keep their fingers crossed and hope: that maybe the ninth season will cement itself in history, not because it marks the end of Koffee with Karan, but because it returns the chat show to its glory days. Either way, brand Karan Johar is moving forward, and maybe a chat show is just too last season for Bollywood’s favourite buttinsky.
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(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)