Koffee With Karan 9 Opens With Salman and Karisma

The ninth and final season of Koffee With Karan opened on Oct. 14 with Salman Khan on the couch and Karisma Kapoor turning up to host the rapid-fire round. The reviews are lukewarm, but the episode produced several headlines.

The final season

Karan Johar confirms on the episode that he is not returning to the show. The Sunday Guardian quotes him as saying "I am not coming back," and recalls his joke, "It's done bro," a line Salman used recently with Sonam Wangchuk. The paper says the show is signing off after 22 years. The count of earlier episodes differs by outlet, with India Today saying 162 and the Sunday Guardian saying 161, so we are not giving a figure.

What Salman said

The Sunday Guardian reports that Salman said, "I would want to have children at some point of time," and later added, "Kids will come in." He also said he did a guest role in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai without charging a fee, because of the bond between his father, Salim Khan, and producer Yash Johar. Karan recalled narrating the script to Salman.

Salman told a story about Yash Johar travelling to Mauritius to help him and Sohail Khan during a shoot, and spoke about his Galaxy Apartment flat being haunted, according to India Today. He also spoke about paparazzi culture and said the 1990s were a better time. In the rapid-fire round he chose between Ranveer Singh in Dhurandhar and Ranbir Kapoor in Animal, and he sidestepped a question on who should direct his biopic by saying his life story would go with him.

Karisma's turn

Karisma Kapoor joined for the rapid-fire round, which India Today says brought warmth and spontaneity. The two joked about their 36-year friendship, with Karan describing it as platonic and Salman replying that she was lying, which the review calls the best joke of the episode. The outlets report a prank during a shoot in which Salman told her that her film had not even opened, which made her cry before he told her it was a hit. The outlets name different films for the shoot and the outfit story, so we have left the titles out.

Video messages

Sanjay Dutt, Varun Dhawan and Bobby Deol sent video messages for Salman. Bobby spoke about the bond between Salman and their late father, Dharmendra. Dutt made a marriage joke about Salman, according to the Sunday Guardian.

Karan on the couch

In Karan's own round, he named Shah Rukh Khan the show's best guest and chose the Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma episode as his favourite, per India Today. Asked which celebrity he wishes had played it safe on the show, he answered Hardik Pandya, which the Sunday Guardian ties to the 2019 episode that drew criticism and was taken down.

The verdict

India Today's reviewer wrote that the show "has lost its kick" and called the season opener "the same coffee, served in the same mug by the same host," lukewarm and short on froth. She credited Karisma with bringing warmth. That is one outlet's opinion, and the Sunday Guardian's piece is a straightforward highlights list.

What is next

New episodes stream on JioHotstar every Wednesday at 7 PM. Episode 2 on Oct. 21 features Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna, according to DNA India.

What we could not confirm

We could not confirm the episode count, since two outlets give different numbers. We could not confirm which film the prank and the outfit story refer to, because the outlets disagree. We have not watched the episode and rely on India Today and the Sunday Guardian. Remarks about personal life are Salman's own words as reported, and we have not added anything beyond them.

Sources

*Cover photo: Laura Lee Dooley, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karan_Johar_in_2017.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Karan_Johar_in_2017.jpg)* (CC BY 2.0).*