How Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor Fell Out With Karan Johar, and Made Up

Karan Johar's guests on the third episode of Koffee With Karan's final season were two actors he once stopped speaking to. Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor, who starred together in Bawaal and Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, spent part of the episode going back over their falling-out with the host. It began streaming on JioHotstar at 7 pm IST on Wednesday, 28 October 2026.

Both sides told their version on the couch. In Dhawan's words, Johar "just ghosted us and stopped talking." Johar said he had his reasons, and that it hurt: "I was hurt with both of you."

A Release Date in July 2023

The trouble began with two films and one week in July 2023. Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani was due in cinemas on 28 July. Bawaal, the Amazon Prime Video film starring Dhawan and Kapoor, was then set to stream from 27 July.

"I was releasing a film of mine, and you came on that same date. I'm not supposed to be upset?" Johar said on the show. He said he had already been struggling to find a date for his film. Dhawan said he had warned Johar that Bawaal might take that slot. Johar's reply: "You said 'might', but you weren't announcing a date."

After that, Johar said, he went quiet. He did not pick up Dhawan's calls and did not answer his messages.

The Message That Hurt

Johar said the worst part came next. "Then what got me really upset was when you sent me a message and said, 'Stop acting like a child'."

Dhawan did not back down. "I called him a child, which is nothing to get offended about. I still stand by that," he said. He added that he says the same to his own father: "I tell my dad also, 'Dad, you are behaving like a child.'" Johar was not persuaded. "You can say what you want to your mom and dad. You can't tell me."

Dhawan also teased Johar about how he had taken it. He told him he had become "Bachchan from K3G", meaning Amitabh Bachchan's stern father in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, the 2001 film Johar directed. "I think you can be upset, but you can't be angry," Dhawan said.

Kapoor's Side of It

Dhawan said Kapoor had known there was a fight, while he had not realised Johar was upset with him. "There was a lot of pain in our fight," she said. "I gained weight when we stopped talking. I became 6 kg heavier." She said she began losing the weight once they were speaking again.

Dhawan called his own part "a one-sided fight". Johar disagreed. "There was pain. There was a proper fight," he said. Of Kapoor, he said: "Janhvi and I behaved like it was a break-up."

I was hurt with both of you.

How It Ended

Dhawan's account is that he gave way. "I changed my release date basically. I changed it. I have a selfless heart," he said. Bawaal premiered on Prime Video on 21 July 2023, a week before Johar's film opened.

He said he was not invited to Johar's birthday party at first, and then was. He also persuaded Kapoor to go, sure of what would happen: "I knew that if Janhvi shows up and you see her, you will melt." Johar remembered the evening. "Then I cried, and she cried and we became okay."

Fatherhood, and Arjun Kapoor in the Rapid Fire

The episode was not only about the fight. Dhawan praised Ranbir Kapoor as a father to his daughter, Raha. "He's so good as a father that I feel really ashamed," he said. He said he and his own daughter, Lara, who is two, "get into a lot of fights", mostly about music. "She's obsessed with Michael Jackson right now," he said, adding that she plays "Beat It" "like, 60 times". Janhvi Kapoor came to his defence: "You're also very good as a father, I've seen you with Lara."

Arjun Kapoor joined the pair for the rapid-fire round. In the promo JioHotstar released on 24 October, Dhawan names him as the person he would go to for career and marriage advice, and Janhvi Kapoor picks the actor Ravi Kishan's account as her favourite on Instagram.

This is the show's last season. It began on 14 October with Salman Khan, and the second episode featured Rashmika Mandanna and Vijay Deverakonda.