Kjo’s diwali release

Director, TV host starts third season of his talk show this Sunday, misses SRK in first episode.

I can never imagine starting off a venture without Shah Rukh (Khan). He’s not only a friend, but an older brother. If he wasn’t away in Berlin for Don 2, he would have been my first guest on Koffee With Karan 3,” says filmmaker Karan Johar, who returns to his celebrity chat show after three years. “No, I’m not apprehensive or nervous. These two emotions are best left for my movies.”

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The first guests on the show are Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan who arrived six hours late for the shoot that wrapped up close to midnight. Johar didn’t complain: “They are family and were fantastic first guests. My relation with Abhi and Ash goes beyond movies and shows. We didn’t need any rehearsals, it was just like a regular conversation in the drawing room open to the world.”

The original plan was for Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan to accompany Abhishek and Aishwarya . Says Johar, “Ideally, I’d like to interview Amitji alone as no word in the dictionary can describe his kind of success and aura. At 68, I’ll probably be bed-ridden, but he is anchoring a popular TV show. There’s so much we could chat about.”

Earlier this year, Oprah Winfrey put a full-stop to her epic chat show. Johar is sad, but points out that everything has a definite start and end. “Her show had different humour that many still can’t digest. We need to learn to laugh at ourselves. I don’t know who does the radio show, Chai With Charan, but it’s hilarious,” he laughs.

Unlike his, not many celebrity chat shows have lasted three seasons. And Johar agrees that many of them have the ‘me-too’ effect of Simi Garewal’s Rendezvous. This season, he’d like her as a guest too.

Currently down with malaria, Johar is kicked with his ‘only overseas’ Diwali release. My Name Is Khan opens in Italy today and at the end of the month in China. Says the excited director, “Not many Bollywood films have entered China. We may have a premiere in Beijing. The trade has evolved but the trade pundits haven’t.”