Kareena Kapoor's Bold Demand: Why She Almost Lost 'Kal Ho Naa Ho' Over Shah Rukh Khan's Salary, According to Karan Johar

When it comes to Bollywood BFFS, the names of Karan Johar and Kareena Kapoor Khan never miss out on the list. Their warm bond, backed by the films they did together, has always been admired by one and all. However, did you know there was a time when Karan Johar and Kareena Kapoor Khan did not speak to each other for almost a year? And all this happened over a movie, where Kareena Kapoor asked the same pay as the male lead, who in this case was none other than Bollywood’s Badshah - Shah Rukh Khan. Read on to know what exactly happened.This all goes back to the time when Kareena Kapoor did ‘Mujse Dosti Karoge!’ alongside Hrithik Roshan and Rani Mukerji. Around the movie’s release, Karan Johar offered Kareena ‘Kal Ho Na Ho.’ As mentioned in Karan Johar’s autobiography, ‘An Unsuitable Boy,’ in response, Kareena Kapoor asked to be paid as much as Shah Rukh Khan, to which the filmmaker didn’t agree. That put a dent in their relationship. “My first problem was with Kareena. She asked for too much money, and we had some kind of a fallout at that time. Mujhse Dosti Karoge! had just been released, directed by Kunal Kohli. She said, ‘Aditya Chopra’s assistant Kunal Kohli has made this flop, so Karan Johar’s assistant, Nikhil Advani, is not to be trusted either',” Karan wrote in his biography.He continued. “The weekend of Mujhse Dosti Karoge’s release, I offered her Kal Ho Naa Ho, and she asked for the same money that Shah Rukh Khan was getting. I said, ‘Sorry.’"Elaborating on the aftermath, he further explained, "Kareena and I didn’t speak to each other for almost a year. For a year, we looked through each other at parties. It was very idiotic. She was a kid; she’s a decade younger than me.”As far as ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ is concerned, well, as they say, the show must go on. The role refused by Kareena was then offered to Preity Zinta, and it helped her garner a lot of love and success. In his autobiography, Karan also shared that despite their difference, Kareena reached out to him when his father’s, late Yash Johar’s, health was deteriorating. She made a call to him to extend her support, and during the same conversation, their broken relationship was mended."We were releasing Kal Ho Naa Ho in November. We had shot the film in June, July, August, and in September, I had to shoot the songs, make the promos, and so on. So, I had to head back, while my father continued the treatment in New York. That was the time Kareena Kapoor called me. It was August. We had not spoken for nine months. She called and said, ‘I heard about Yash uncle.’ She got really emotional on the phone, and she said, ‘I love you and I am so sorry I haven’t been in touch. Don’t worry," Karan wrote.