Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham continues to be remembered as one of Bollywood’s most loved family dramas, known for its scale, emotions, and iconic performances. Over the years, several behind the scenes stories from the film have surfaced, and one of the most fascinating ones is about how the entire initial budget of the film was exhausted on just one song, Bole Chudiyaan.
Recalling the incident in a chat with Radio Nasha, Nikkhil Advani shared how budgeting worked very differently back then. “These days, people make budgets on spreadsheets. They take nearly two months to finalise them. But when we narrated the script of Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham to Yash Johar, he called me to his office and asked me to write the budget. I wrote Rs 3 crore. It was approved, and we were told to begin the film.” The team jumped straight into production without lengthy planning, driven purely by passion and instinct.
Talking about the chaos during the shoot of Bole Chudiyan, Nikkhil said, “Our very first set was for Bole Chudiyan. Karan Johar fainted on set. Kajol had issues with her lehenga and couldn’t dance. There was complete chaos—200 dancers, 300 junior artistes. We even manufactured jhoomars because Karan wanted everything to look grand.” The scale and ambition of the song quickly went far beyond what was originally planned.
He further recalled how Yash Johar reacted once he realised the costs had spiralled. “That evening, Yash ji made us sit down for a chai break and asked, ‘Didn’t you make a budget for this film?’ I said yes. He asked, ‘How much was it?’ I said, ‘I don’t remember.’ He then pulled out the paper I had given him, read it aloud—‘Rs 3 crore’—and said, ‘The set you’ve created has already cost more than that.’ He tore the paper and told us, ‘Now, you make the film!’” Reflecting on those times, Nikkhil added, “Earlier, there was a nasha to make movies. Yash Johar once had to consider selling his house for his films. Even Yash Chopra—one of the greatest directors—had a phase where everything flopped before Chandni. Where are such people today? We are so consumed by box office numbers now.” He concluded by saying that filmmakers like Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra are the only ones who can bring back that era of fearless filmmaking, adding, “We’ve seen Yash ji—there will never be another producer like him. He understood cinema. He would never say no to 400 junior artistes, but he would always ask why they were needed.”