Sassy confessions on the couch
ITitle: Koffee With Karan Season 7 Host: Karan Johar Guest: Anil Kapoor and Varun Dhawan n a season that has been all frivolous but no fun, the latest episode of Koffee with Karan season 7 featuring Anil Kapoor and Varun Dhawan served not only as a saving grace but also showed what has been missing all throughout the show.
The two had shot for the episode months ago, around the release of JugJugg Jeeyo, but unlike other guest combinations that have also been paired from recent releases,Varun and Anil displayed warm, genuine camaraderie, giving the interaction a homely vibe. What also elevated the episode was their closeness with host Karan Johar, which resulted in a free-flowing conversation, mostly missing from the rest of the season.
Both the guests also spoke with incredible honesty, sharing their views on everything from nepotism to competition with peers. Anil Kapoor didn’t shy away from admitting he was insecure about Jackie Shroff ’s early success when he started out in the ’80s. Commenting on the nepotism debate, the actor described how Jackie, despite being an outsider, was getting a dream launch by then-star filmmaker Subhash Ghai, while Anil, an industry kid, was struggling with bit roles in films.
While Varun called his first co-star Alia Bhatt his biggest competitor, giving perhaps the dialogue of the season — ‘We need to accept that our actresses are bigger than our heroes.’ Both of them lent sincerity to their replies, reminding you of the remarkable, heartfelt candidness of previous seasons.
Varun, whose humility, open-mindedness, and respectful public conduct set
Rating: him apart from his contemporaries, he addressed the nepotism debate and said, “It exists and we can’t turn a blind eye to something that people have been talking about. Star kids do have an advantage.”
In moments when the guests acted aware of the host’s questions, their fumbling ensured relentless laughter. When Karan brought up cheating in marriage (in sync with the subject of JugJugg Jeeyo) quite early on in the episode, both the men beat around the bush about the concept of infidelity. Varun said his dog would know the day he cheats on wife Natasha — with Karan bursting in laughter — and Anil Kapoor concluded emotional infidelity is worse than physical.
It got funnier when Varun playfully gave it back to Karan, asking why he is always interested in infidelity and if he has been or cheated on his partner. What was also funny was Anil Kapoor’s now famous self-love as he rebelled against being called a ‘senior’ repeatedly in the episode.
The highlight of the episode was Varun’s confession that he feels hurt when his mentor Karan chooses other male actors over him to headline his films. ‘I do feel
bad thinking if I haven’t done enough that Karan doesn’t see him as his hero.’ When the director asked why he hadn’t shared his feelings with him before, Varun said, “I cant use personal relations for work. I can’t ask you to work with me.” The emotional depth of the moment made the episode wholesome and one realised why Koffee with Karan worked as a pop culture phenomenon over all these years.
That ultimately it’s the guest’s personality, not image that steams the