Farah Khan recalls Bollywood’s dark phase in the ’90s: 'Karan Johar had received an underworld threat during KKHH premiere'

Filmmaker-choreographer Farah Khan recently looked back at the atmosphere in Bollywood when she began her career in the early 1990s, recalling a time when Hindi cinema struggled with its image and the industry was grappling with the shadow of the underworld.

Speaking on a podcast hosted by Ranveer Allahbadia, Farah said that during her college days, many people in her generation preferred Hollywood films and often looked down upon Hindi cinema.




“I’ll tell you the context of where the film industry was in the early ’90s. Earlier, we used to look down upon Hindi films because of the ’80s,” Farah said. “When we were in college, we were only watching Saturday Night Fever and Dirty Dancing — Hollywood films — and we used to look down on Hindi movies.”

‘The ’80s was the worst era of Hindi films’

Farah explained that the perception stemmed largely from the kind of films being made in the 1980s.

“You guys may not remember the ’80s, but it was the worst era of Hindi films,” she said. “There were all those multi-hero films — Mithun-style or three-hero movies. You had Dharmendra ji, Jeetendra ji, Shatrughan Sinha all coming together, but you can’t even remember one particular film clearly.”

She added that while many of those films are now widely shared as memes online, the reality of the industry back then was quite different.

“Maybe right now they are famous in the meme world, but at that time it was a very different phase for Hindi cinema,” she said.

‘Karan Johar received an underworld threat’

Farah also recalled how the film industry in the 1990s was dealing with the growing influence of the underworld.

“We heard a lot about underworld stories from that era,” she said, adding that one particular incident left a deep impact. “I remember I had just started my career — it must have been around 1993 or 1994 — and producer Mukesh Duggal was shot. That really shook everyone.”

The filmmaker further revealed that even film premieres were not immune to such tensions at the time.

“I remember during the premiere of Duplicate and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Karan had received an underworld threat. It was very scary,” she said.



According to Farah, the threat had led to serious discussions about whether the premiere should go ahead.

“Everyone was discussing whether the premiere should be cancelled or not. Security was beefed up,” she recalled.

Despite the tense atmosphere, the team eventually decided to move forward with the event.

“We did go ahead with the premiere, but Karan was very stressed. Imagine it’s your first film and instead of celebrating it, you’re dealing with threats and worrying about security,” she said.Get the latest entertainment updates from the Times of India, along with the latest Hindi movies, upcoming Hindi movies in 2026 , and Telugu movies.”