The actor returns as the show's first guest for its ninth and last season, which begins streaming October 14 on JioHotstar after Karan Johar's emotional farewell announcement.
Karan Johar has picked his man for the last round of coffee. Salman Khan will be the first guest on the ninth and final season of Koffee With Karan, which starts streaming October 14 on JioHotstar.
Johar broke the news himself, posting a clip from the set with Khan and a caption that read, "One last time. A koffee with the one & only bhaii." No surprises there, really. Khan opening a season of this show has become something of a tradition, and this is his third trip to that infamous couch. He first sat on it with his father, screenwriter Salim Khan, and later showed up alongside his brothers Arbaaz and Sohail.
What's different this time is the finality of it all. On September 30, Johar had already announced that season nine would be the show's last, in a video that was less promo and more confession. He went back to June 2004, when he first told his father he wanted to host a talk show built on informal, candid conversation between two stars. His father's response, as Johar recalled it: "You going to call your friends and chat with them. You do it every day. Who is going to pay you for that." Salim Khan passed away that same month, on June 26.
Twenty-two years, 161 episodes, one last cup
Johar shot the first episode on August 16, 2004. Since then, by his own count, the show has run eight seasons and 161 episodes, and dragged in just about everyone who matters in Hindi cinema, from Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan to Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra, among many others.
In the same video, Johar didn't dodge the baggage the show carries. "I called lovers, I called friends, I called families, I called lovers who then went on to become ex-lovers," he said. "I nearly put an end to the careers of national icons. I'm living with the word nepotism even today. Conjecture became a kind of national word." He got visibly emotional toward the end, saying he'd reached a point where he realised all good things have to end, and that this would be his very last season.
He's also braced for what comes with saying goodbye on a show this scrutinised. "There will be trolls, there will be comments, there will be posts, and I'm ready to take that on," Johar said, before asking viewers to join him for one final round on the couch.
Whether Khan's episode leans nostalgic or goes for the usual rapid-fire mischief is still unknown, Johar and JioHotstar haven't released specifics on format or the rest of the guest list beyond confirming the premiere date. What's certain is that October 14 marks the start of a long goodbye for a show that has spent two decades making headlines almost as often for what it reveals as for what it stirs up.
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