Karan Johar to return to direction in 2026 with old-school Hindi cinema: It’s in my DNA so why run away from it…

Karan Johar to return to filmmaking in 2026

Filmmaker Karan Johar has announced that he will be stepping back into the director’s chair in 2026, promising a return to the kind of old-fashioned, emotionally rich Hindi films that have always been his strength. The filmmaker revealed that he no longer wishes to move away from his roots in pursuit of pleasing audiences he does not know.

Karan posted a number of images from a day at sea on Instagram on Sunday. He shared his thoughts on the past year with them, characterising it as full of "internal revaluations, revelations, and resolutions." He proposed that he had entered what he referred to as the "2.0 version" of himself as a result of this time of reflection.

“The Sun … the Sea…. The Clarity … The last year has been a year of internal revaluations , revelations and resolutions…. It almost feels like the onset of the 2.0 version of my life… where you value what you truly have and feel for and the rest you slowly dissolve into emotional oblivion,” he wrote.

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Karan went on to affirm his decision to begin directing again in 2026, sharing, “2026 is the year I will be back on set.. a promise I have made to myself… because that is not only my happy space and place but also my only calling in life… to tell stories with all the prerequisites of good old fashioned Hindi cinema… it’s in my DNA so why run away from it …( or try to please a bunch of people I don’t know ) The above may sound like a melange of random thoughts but it comes with so much clarity!”

He concluded his post warmly, writing, “Seizing the moment not just the day… Love you all.”

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The post quickly attracted admiration from fans and followers, with many urging him to revive the style of films such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. One comment read, “Karan Johar’s romance story is loading... and so are my expectations.” Another wrote, “Come on Karan, make a Romantic old age or romantic modern age film with SRK. Only you, Yash Ji, and Aditya Chopra can present SRK what he is truly made for.”

The romantic drama Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, which starred Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt and earned over ₹300 crore in revenue and a National Film Award, was Karan Johar's final film as a director. He has been producing films like Jigra and Dhadak 2 in the interim.