On the occasion of Karan Johar’s 53rd birthday, let us tell you about how this romantic drama ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ is a deeply personal project for him.
Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar, who recently attended the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival and graced the red carpet with stunning outfits, need no introduction. For those who don’t know, he visited the International Film Festival for the premiere of his production ‘Homebound’ along with director Neeraj Ghaywan and the star cast of the film. Karan made his directorial debut with the blockbuster hit ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ in 1998. Over the years, he has directed several hit films, including ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham..’, ‘My Name Is Khan’, ‘Student of the Year’, ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, among others.
But do you know that one of his projects, ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, featuring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, is inspired by his real-life one-sided love and heartbreak? The celebrated director and producer turned 53 today, May 25, 2025, and on his birthday, let us tell you how this romantic drama is a deeply personal project for him.
In a recent interview with Raj Shamani on his YouTube podcast show, ‘Speaking with Raj Shamani’, Karan opened up about his one-sided love and the story behind the 2016 film ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’. He described the experience as “torture” and “the worst feeling in the world”. He also spoke about how he went through pain and anxiety attacks during his phase of one-sided love.
Karan said that although the one-sided love was painful but has empowered him. He also mentioned that he applied a reverse positive logic to it to deal with it. He further added that he was planning to make a historic movie, but it didn’t happen for various reasons, and then he decided to make a happy film, because he wanted to feel happy after the phase of the pandemic, which led him to write ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’.
Last year, the director also penned a heartfelt note on his official Instagram handle about the star cast of the film ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’. He shared a series of pictures from the sets of the film, calling it a personal project. In the Instagram note, the Student of the Year director wrote, “Ae Dil hai Mushkil will always be personal to me…It was all my life learnings about falling in love, dealing with unrequited love and also how resilient we can be even when the heartbreak feels so final…The experience of filming ADHM was one of my best on set experiences..”
For the unversed, the musical romantic drama ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ is directed, produced and written by Karan under the banner of his production house, ‘Dharma Productions’. The film features Brahmastra actor Ranbir Kapoor, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi actress Anushka Sharma and veteran actress Aishwarya Rai in the lead roles.
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