Nikkhil Advani opens up about his ‘very public fallout’ with Karan Johar post Kal Ho Naa Ho: I didn’t have work for 3 years – Times of India

Nikkhil Advani and Karan Johar have been working together since the days of Duplicate starring Shah Rukh Khan. Under Dharma Productions banner, Nikkhil directed his first solo film Kal Ho Naa Ho, which went on to become the biggest hits of 2003.
Post that, Nikkhil and Karanhad a public fallout and left the production company. After that, the director struggled to find work for nearly 3 years since nobody wanted to work with him.
In a chat show, Nikkhil made the revelation and said that when he finally started working again post D-Day, he just wanted to do anything and everything to never be in that position again.
In his 2013 interview with Times Of India, Nikkhil had revealed that he and Karan never sat down and discussed what went wrong between them, despite knowing each other since school days.

He had said that they both had egos in 2004 and after he directed Kal Ho Naa Ho, the relation between assistant director and director became that of two directors who both made superhit films. But when Yash Chopra passed away, they started talking to each other.
When Karan had mentioned in his memoir An Unsuitable Boy that he regretted not directing Kal Ho Naa Ho, Nikkhil had said that he had written it with his heart but Karan underestimated himself thinking he might not be able to do justice to it.