Mumbai: Popular Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar, while recalling his early days in the industry, shared that he brushed Kajol’s hair and designed costumes for Shah Rukh Khan.
Recalling the hustle behind the making of the iconic ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, Karan, who worked as an assistant director in that the film, revealed that he had to manage almost everything on the sets as there were no separate departments.
He further shared that he even used to buy cheap accessories for the actresses from railway stations and arranged their costumes.
Recalling the DDLJ shoot in Switzerland, Karan shared on Jay Shetty’s podcast, “We were a unit of 21 people, just 21 people making a movie in one bus. We would sit in one bus, we would drive, and Adi (Aditya Chopra) would look at the locations and say, ‘Stop. This looks beautiful. Let’s go film’. We used to take Kajol behind a tree and make her wear a saree, and Shah Rukh would change anywhere and then come and shoot. There was no scout; we didn’t have enough money to do it back then. Everyone held equipment and walked up, as if you had to shoot on a mountain top. Shah Rukh was holding equipment, and Kajol was too; literally, everyone was a team. There was no additional help, support. Today, everyone is so spoilt.”
He added, “Earlier, there was no publicist, management. A leading lady and her parent, that’s it. I remember when Kajol was there, her hair and makeup person did not get a visa. I was brushing her hair on set, and her mother was doing her makeup. We didn’t have a hair and makeup person for her. So, it was like crazy.”
Karan remarked that unlike today, filmmaking was fun earlier.
Helmed by Aditya Chopra and produced by Yash Chopra, ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ hit theatres in 1995.
The film starred Shah Rukh and Kajol as the lead pair, with Amrish Puri, Anupam Kher, Farida Jalal and Parmeet Sethi playing pivotal roles.
Karan Johar’s production ‘Sarzameen’ is currently streaming on JioHotstar.
Directed by Boman Irani’s son Kayoze Irani, the film features Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kajol and Ibrahim Ali Khan in lead roles.
