When Karan Johar Recalled Being Bullied by Akshaye Khanna During Childhood: “I Was Scarred”

Mumbai, October 17, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)

It may come as a surprise to many, but filmmaker Karan Johar once revealed that actor Akshaye Khanna used to bully him during their childhood.

The filmmaker shared the anecdote during an episode of his popular chat show Koffee with Karan in 2007, when Akshaye appeared on the show alongside actor Anil Kapoor. During the conversation, Karan recalled their childhood days, when they lived in the same neighbourhood in South Mumbai.

Karan revealed that he used to play badminton, although he admitted that he was not particularly good at the sport. Akshaye, on the other hand, was an accomplished badminton player who would allegedly ask other players to leave the court when he wanted to play.

“I know, you’ve been very rude to me as a child. You don’t remember. We’ve grown up in the same neighbourhood. We used to be neighbours, we were the South Bombay boys. And I used to play badminton, very badly, of course. And Akshaye was a great badminton player, and he used to just come and say, ‘You, you, off the court’. And we were these little surviving badminton players, we used to just walk away, and he was this star badminton player, and we used to be thrown off the court,” Karan said.

Akshaye, however, disputed the filmmaker’s recollection, suggesting that Karan was making up the story and denying that he could have behaved that way.

Karan insisted that he was telling the truth and recalled how intimidating the experience had been for him as a child.

“I swear I’m not. I remember, I was scarred,” Karan said.

Akshaye later apologised to the filmmaker for the incident.

Although Akshaye has never starred in a film directed by Karan Johar, the filmmaker backed the actor’s 2017 crime thriller Ittefaq under his production banner, Dharma Productions.

Directed by Abhay Chopra, the film also featured Sonakshi Sinha in a leading role.