Director Karan Johar turned 47 on 25 May and was showered with wishes from Bollywood celebs such as Rishi Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra and Sonali Bendre.
But the one birthday wish that seems to have caught the attention of fans is from Nepalese-American fashion designer Prabal Gurung who posted a picture of the two on Instagram. Karan embraced Gurung as they posed on a staircase at The Boom Boom Room, a glitzy club in New York’s Meatpacking District. “Pyaar kiya toh darna kya. Happy birthday KJo,” he wrote in the caption.
The photograph has led many to speculate that this is confirmation that Karan Johar and Prabal Gurung are in a relationship. Karan, who is known to be reticent about his personal life, responded with a comment: “Control yourself bhaiya!”
Several fans, however, posted congratulatory messages and called them an inspiration.
Shobha De too chimed in.
Karan Johar is set to host a dating show called What the Love? on Netflix. The streaming platform announced the news on the director’s birthday.
The latest films to be backed by Karan Johar’s production house Dharma Productions have not had a great run at the box office. Multi-starrer Kalank earned Rs 80.35 crores despite its star cast of Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sonakshi Sinha. The production house’s latest release Student of the Year 2, with Tiger Shroff, Tara Sutaria and Ananya Panday, has earned Rs 67.84 crore since hitting theatres on 10 May.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)