Karan Johar stands by ‘Nadaaniyan’ despite backlash, says Ibrahim Ali Khan and Khushi Kapoor have bright futures

Karan Johar supports Ibrahim and Khushi

When Nadaaniyan, a coming-of-age movie, debuted on Netflix in March, it was heavily criticised on social media. Filmmaker Karan Johar has now steadfastly supported the project and its young lead actors, Ibrahim Ali Khan and Khushi Kapoor, despite the negative reception.

Under the auspices of Dharmatic Entertainment, Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, and Somen Mishra produced the film, which was directed by debutante Shauna Gautam.

Nadaaniyan was supposed to be a light-hearted high school drama with a reassuring, feel-good tone, but it didn't connect with viewers and received a lot of negative feedback.

However, in a recent interview with Bollywood Hungama, Karan addressed the criticism with a firm stance. “I will stand by Nadaaniyan, till kingdom come,” he stated.

“And I will tell you even today that Ibrahim and Khushi worked very, very hard. Shauna Gautam, the director of the film, worked supremely hard. Everyone put their best foot forward. We wanted to make a high school, cutesy, feel-good, snuggle-in-your-blanket film. If it didn’t land for people, we apologise.” He added.

Karan went on to accept responsibility for the film's reception, revealing his initial enthusiasm for the script. “I take full claim, I had loved the script when I read it. I found it a lot of fun and I was like, let’s do it. And of course, we got flak. Did it get more than I deserved? Let’s not get into that because that’s a point of perspective. I may have something, you may have another.”

Despite the rocky debut, Johar remains optimistic about the future of the film’s stars. “But I do believe these kids have glorious careers ahead of them. They are working very hard. They are learning from their mistakes, understanding their errors, improving their craft as we speak. And they are made for this industry and they will do very well. I will stand by them. I will always be their guiding light,” he said.

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Karan concluded by expressing hope for a creative reunion with the film’s team. “I hope one day that we can all as a team—whether it’s Shauna, Ibrahim, Khushi, and myself—that we all come back, stand strong on our feet and say, look, we learned from what we did. And now we’re in a better place. And I’m sure we will be.”

Nadaaniyan marked the acting debut of Ibrahim Ali Khan, son of Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh. Alongside Khushi Kapoor, the cast included Mahima Chaudhry, Dia Mirza, Suniel Shetty, and Jugal Hansraj.