Karan Johar, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla
Karan Johar, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla

Karan Johar managed to get quite an interesting coupling for this weekend’s episode of Koffee With Karan Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla, who were said to be big rivals back in the day. They apparently never got along – and never worked together – but years later, they’re coming together for a film, Gulaab Gang. The film seems to have at least broken the ice between the two, and they came on the show together. It still looks like there’s some awkwardness there, but it was a fun show regardless (old Bollywood gossip is my favourite kind), and Juhi especially was very open about a lot of things. In case you missed the show, here’s a round-up of some of the things we learned!

1. Juhi Chawla’s success had gone to her head

Juhi admitted on the show that she does have some regrets, as she made a few silly decisions in her career. “I think my success had gone to my head. It floated away with my brains. I made some not-so-great decisions. When I look back, I say I’ve made superstars out of other little actresses.” She even went on to say that at one point she was so busy that she thought the film world would stop if she refused a film. She realised, though, that things move on and the film you didn’t do ends up being a window for someone else. “And when the film you didn’t do turns out really nice, you’re like, oh my gosh, what was I thinking?”

Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla
Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla

2. Aamir and Juhi fought over a silly prank

Aamir Khan and Juhi didn’t speak to each other for 5 years, just because of a stupid prank. Juhi said that one day his pranks went a little too far on the sets of Ishq, and that got her so irritated that she decided she wasn’t going to show up on sets the next day. She didn’t, and that day the shoot was called off. Aamir apparently got really mad at that, and that’s when they stopped talking. They had complete silence for around 4 or 5 years, and neither would say anything to each other. Later, though, Juhi went to his home for some different reason (she didn’t share what), and that’s how they discussed things and sorted matters out. Turns out they were both waiting for the other to make the first move to patch things up!

3. Madhuri and Juhi broke the ice after being alone in a room together

It’s well-known that Madhuri and Juhi never really got along back in the day, and Juhi even said on the show that they only got to know each other during Gulaab Gang. They never sat and talked before that, but before the shoot started, the director arranged a meeting of just the two of them. He brought them to his office, and just left them both alone for the first 15-20 minutes. Of course then they had to get to talking, and that’s how they broke the ice.

Karan Johar, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla
Karan Johar, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla

4. Juhi said no to Dil Toh Paagal Hai because she didn’t want to share screen space with Madhuri

It’s known by now that Juhi said no to Dil Toh Paagal Hai all those years ago, but interestingly she came out and spoke about why on this episode. It related back to her earlier point about success having gone to her head. “I had just done Darr with Yashji, and when you get used to all the attention… it was like, oh, this is a shared space. And I was like, no, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to be second to her. And that was one not-so-clever decision of my time. Later I looked back and said, why?”

5. Salman Khan looks through Juhi Chawla

She’s not sure why, but Juhi feels like Salman just tends to look through her. They only worked together for one shelved film, but not otherwise. Did she ever feel it was something personal? “Yeah. Sometimes I’ve run into him – earlier, things may have improved now – and he’d just look at me as if he didn’t know who I was. So I really didn’t know what was going on in his mind.” She never bothered to clarify, but she felt that she didn’t know him well enough to call him up and ask him what’s happening with him.

What was your favourite part of the show?