Filmmaker Karan Johar, on Raj Shamani’s podcast, addressed the debate around “star kids” in Bollywood, stating that consistent talent is key to an actor’s success. He also praised Shah Rukh Khan’s children, Aryan and Suhana Khan.
Karan Johar opens up on nepotism, calls Suhana Khan a “terrific talent” and Aryan Khan a “rare personality type”
Karan Johar acknowledged that star kids “get opportunities by virtue of their foot in the door,” but emphasized that “eventually aap hunar se muqabla nahi kar sakte (you can’t compete with talent).” He noted that “technically nepo kids” like Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor are “incredible talents” who are extremely hardworking.
Karan Johar described Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan as having a “big journey of outsiders,” while also acknowledging that there are “great insiders who have done great work.” He emphasized that talent is the one consistent factor among those who succeed, adding that only those who are “talentedly consistent” can progress. Addressing cases where talented individuals don’t find success, he attributed it to “taqdeer (fate).”
The filmmaker praised Suhana Khan as a “terrific talent” and confirmed she will feature in the upcoming film King alongside Shah Rukh Khan. He shared, “I still feel very strongly that people will see Suhana Khan eventually. I have seen her as a student, I’ve seen Suhana’s student films. I’ve seen the work she has put into her craft. I feel when people realise the artist inside her, she is doing a film with her father, King. I’m glad that the world will see that on a large scale that Suhana is a terrific talent. She’s going to do phenomenally well. I’m not saying this because she is my kid. I’m saying because I believe that there is a massive solid artist in Suhana Khan.”
Karan Johar described Aryan Khan as a hard-working individual with a “rare personality type.” Expressing confidence in his directorial abilities, he said, “I have a strong belief in Aryan Khan’s directorial talent. I don’t want to say anything about it because he is very private, but all I’ll say is watch out. If there’s a king, there will be a prince…He has an individualistic voice as a director. You expect Shah Rukh Khan ka beta hai yeh hoga woh hoga, kuchh nahi, bilkul apna banda hai woh. Quietly apna kaam karta hai woh (You expect him to do certain things since he is Shah Rukh Khan’s son, but no, he is on his own. He quietly does his work). He doesn’t carry the baggage of his father, he doesn’t carry the baggage of his legacy. He is a hard-working boy, he works for 20 hours…He is a rare personality type.”
Aryan Khan is set to make his directorial debut with the Netflix series The Ba***ds of Bollywood, co-created by Bilal Siddiqi and Manav Chauhan, and produced by Gauri Khan. Suhana Khan debuted in Bollywood with Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies and will next be seen alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Abhishek Bachchan in Siddharth Anand’s King, set for a global release in 2026.
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