Gauri Khan graces the evening on the sets of Koffee With Karan Season 7 Episode 12, dated September 22, 2022, after 17 years. Joining her later on the show are her two lifelong friends Maheep Kapoor and Bhavna Pandey from the fame of Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives. The three share their friendship with the host and sit down to talk about the milestones they’ve shared together over their three-decade-long run in the industry.
The first moments of the episode bring out Johar’s introductory monologue in which he talks about turning 50 recently and how that has put an end to his mid-life crisis and rather commenced a “full-blown calamity”. He’s at that point in his life where he doesn’t wish to age at all, never mind aging like fine wine. Even the friendships that he keeps now are ones that have to pass the age cut-off, restricting it to Gen-Z alone, as he remarks jokingly.
However, he believes that some friendships are “perennial” just as his persona and his guest, his “forever friend”, Gauri Khan. She walks in wearing a pink ensemble, that’s reportedly worth Rs. 2 Lacs. However, once her conversation with Johar catches momentum, it has much to do with the profound dilemmas she’s come to face rather than the misinterpreted labels that have flagged her individuality.
Recap of Koffee With Karan Season 7 Episode 12
Gauri Khan last visited the set of the Koffee With Karan 17 years back alongside her husband, Shah Rukh Khan in addition to Sussanne Khan, and Hritik Roshan also being there, as Johar reminds her. Her comeback to the show establishes her as the passionate interior designer mogul she is and attempts to break her image as a mere effigy bearing the tag of “Shah Rukh Khan’s wife”.
Karan Johar’s questions and remarks point out how she was the only prominent member of the “Mannat household” who was earning during the pandemic, further positing her as a person of her own. Thereafter, they address the baggage that comes with the previously held tag and how it’s only worked out 50% in her favor, while for the rest, simply against her, due to the presumptions that got carried along with it.
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This interaction is heartfelt and seeks to humanize the glitzy perception held by the world regarding the Khan family. Even the host mentions that despite being the “biggest star in the world”, SRK always comes back to what he regards as a “regular” household, where a couple often bickers over the banalest things.
Starting off as a well-grounded interaction between two friends who’ve “grown up in the business together”, the discussion soon moves towards a graver mood as the host picks up the recent arrest of Aryan Khan without actually naming the incident. It once again puts the focus back on Gauri Khan and how she came to terms with it all, and how the people around her built a safe space for her family and helped them out of a crisis.
Thereafter, as Johar calls them, “Tiger Moms” who are now big reality stars, Maheep Kapoor and Bhavna Pandey are welcomed late. The profoundly built tone in the earlier minutes starts to wither away as it morphs into something frivolous once Johar and Kapoor engage in banter about the Bollywood Wives’ “newfound stardom”.
Bhavna Pandey later reveals that she often felt like an outsider and left out of the picture since she moved from Delhi to Mumbai after her marriage with Chunky Pandey. However, the scene has started to change to some extent now. A stark contrast is drawn between her and Maheep Kapoor, who’s rather surrounded by movie stars on all sides from the very beginning.
The ensuing chat eventually demonstrates a friendship going strong for three decades in spite of all their “hundred fights” and more in the mix. Gauri Khan admits that one shouldn’t “paint a rosy picture” about it and that they’ve had their share of fights, which has ultimately made their relationship stronger.
To this Johar adds how after the release of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, he was always seen as the Khans’ plus one “hanging around them all the time”, which riles up the question of “genuine friendships” in Bollywood. Maheep gives a very collected response that people have always been talking around them but it’s all become noise now. She raises a significant point that one can’t fake a relationship for the entirety of 30 years.
This soon switches the point of focus to success, and Johar asks Gauri Khan if she has ever had to “compensate for who (she) was” considering her two friends’ husbands were going through a rough patch. Khan calmly destabilizes the notion by admitting that she’s always acknowledged success to be “immaterial” and that her friendships are more about being in the present moment with the other person.
Talks of nepotism are also brought in as mentions of their three daughters getting their big breaks are highlighted. Rapid-Fire and Slamzone game sessions follow, which are won by Gauri Khan and Maheep Kapoor respectively, while a special SRK cameo is featured as Gauri Khan calls him up for the Slamzone. Khan even announces the perfect title for her love story with SRK as Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, owing to their much “turbulent” story.
Koffee With Karan Season 7 Episode 12: Final Thoughts
Overall, the episode is a certified guilty pleasure, with some cringe-worthy moments sprinkled at the top. Thankfully, the cringe quotient is balanced out by the entertaining factor. There are times when you may end up asking yourself the reason why you’re watching this particular episode but the answer isn’t too far off than you can imagine.
Johar’s initial chat with Gauri Khan, when they’re the only ones sharing the set on-screen, is the absolute highlight. The emotionally charged discussion about the Khan family and the ordeals they’ve had to face in recent times during Aryan Khan’s arrest resurrects episode 12’s charm.
The broadcast of recorded messages of the three daughters of Karan’s guests is another moment that you believed would start off cheeky but ultimately pushes a chuckle out of you. Once Maheep Kapoor and Bhavna Pandey walk out into the light, the show seems like a long-running rapid-fire round even before the actual rapid-fire has begun. It becomes too chaotic and rushed that sometimes it feels like the interactions are being cut-off midway.
Nevertheless, credit must be given where it’s due. Karan Johar knows all too well how to put you in the spot and get the dirt out of you without pulling many strings. The boisterous three-decade-long friendship is definitely reflected in Koffee With Karan Season 7 Episode 12 despite one’s misconceptions and all the noise that surrounds these Bollywood wives.
There’s bound to be a lot of hubbub around this episode, as to why the other two were simply introduced to the show as ‘plus twos’ of Gauri Khan. Bits of it may even have come across as furthering their glamorous “privileged” lives, but it also goes beyond those labels to present a humane group of friends enjoying themselves and gossiping through their carefree evening much like ourselves regardless of what one may say.
Koffee With Karan Season 7 Episode 12 is now available on Disney+ Hotstar. Have you caught up with the latest episode yet? How do you feel about the KWK debutante feature? Let us know in the comments section.
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