20 Years Of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham: “The budget at that point, in 2001, was Rs. 50 crore, which is equivalent to today’s 500 crore” – Karan Johar

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham released exactly 20 years, on December 14, 2001. Starring as many as six actors – Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor Khan – the film was grand in every way. That it was shot in places like Egypt, which was a country then where no other Hindi film was ever filmed, added to the film’s appeal, and also budget. And not to forget, money flowed like water as Karan made the most visually appealing sets and also ensured that his characters donned glamorous and expensive costumes.

In his autobiography ‘An Unsuitable Boy’, Karan Johar opened up about the economics of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. To quote him, “The budget at that point, in 2001, was Rs. 50 crore, which is equivalent to today’s 500 crore. No one had ever, in the history of film budgets at least, spent Rs. 50 crore on a feature film when the total remuneration of the cast at that time was 6 crore rupees.”

He added, “Today, if you make the exact same film with the same cast, it’ll be unaffordable and you won’t be able to release it, because there’s no way you can recover that kind of investment.”

Luckily for Karan Johar, despite the high costs, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham emerged as a success. It earned Rs. 55.65 crores at the Indian box office, an insane amount in those times. At that point, it was possibly the third biggest grosser after Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994), which had collected Rs. 72.46 crore, and Gadar – Ek Prem Katha (2001), which earned Rs. 76.88 crore and had released just a few months before Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. In the overseas market, however, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham was miles ahead of Gadar – Ek Prem Katha as it collected a humongous Rs. 42 crore gross outside India.

On Rajeev Masand’s audio show ‘Picture Ke Peeche’, Karan Johar had said, “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’s UK (lifetime numbers) was 2.6 million pounds; Dhoom 2’s (2006) (lifetime numbers) were 2.7 million pounds. Nobody has gone beyond these figures all these years.”

Also Read: 20 Years of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham: Karan Johar and Farah Khan recreate Bole Chudiyan; watch

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