Cannes 2025: Karan Johar recalls Yash Johar sold Shah Rukh Khan’s K3G for THIS much

In the midst of Cannes 2025's prominence, Karan Johar recalled his initial venture to the celebrated film festival in 2002, which encompassed a poignant memory with his father, the late Yash Johar. During a discussion with Galatta Plus, Karan shared that Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (K3G) was initially proposed for a Cannes premiere, but it didn't proceed due to scheduling limitations.

The very first film festival that I actually went to was Cannes. It was 2002. At that time, the Cannes reached out for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham to do this big gala premiere. They wanted this big Bollywood film. They came to me around October-November 2001. Kabhi Khushi was scheduled to release in December 2001. So for me to make that Cannes red carpet meant delaying my film for about seven months. I couldn’t afford that. And the right film was then Devdas. Aishwarya made her global entry. Shah Rukh was on that red carpet

- Karan Johar

Despite missing the Cannes premiere for K3G, Karan Johar and his father, Yash Johar, made their presence felt at the festival by setting up a booth in the Cannes market. “My father opened a store at the Cannes market with Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and he stood alone. We were there for 10 days and my dad told me, ‘son, you go watch movies, I am here’. At that time I watched a lot of movies and also attended the Devdas screening. I got soaked into the glamour of Cannes but what was interesting was that my father sold our movie to Stephen, he was a very kind gentleman, for $5000 for Europe. I was like, ‘Why Papa? why $5000?’ He was like, ‘Kya pata kuch hojaye… but this is the only sale we made in those 10 days.’"

Karan added lastly, “He passed away in 2004 but what he didn’t see was the impact of what K3G began in Europe and went on to do an X amount. The film is renamed as La Famille indienne in French. Shah Rukh is a massive star in Germany and all his movies started releasing after that. K3G kind of began the journey."