Karan Johar has reportedly unfollowed Shah Rukh Khan on Instagram. On 28 May, days after his 54th birthday, he reportedly carried out a massive social media cleanup.
After the reported clean-up, Karan Johar does not follow any member of the Khan family. He doesn’t follow Gauri Khan, Aryan Khan or Suhana Khan.
While SRK doesn’t follow Karan Johar on Instagram either, it is unclear if he ever followed the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai director. Gauri, meanwhile, still follows Karan. So do Aryan Khan and Suhana Khan.
At this moment, the Bollywood filmmaker follows just 74 accounts on Instagram. The only Bollywood name on the list is Priyanka Chopra Jonas. He doesn’t follow Ananya Panday, Katrina Kaif, Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan. He is known to be quite close to these Bollywood celebrities.
When last checked, Ananya Panday, Sara Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal still follow Karan Johar. Ananya Panday, along with Lakshya Lalwani, featured in Dharma’s upcoming romantic drama, Chand Mera Dil. The movie has not performed well at the box office. It has collected just ₹19.09 crore net in Week 1.
The actual reason behind the unfollow remains unclear. LiveMint could not independently verify if Karan Johar used to follow these celebs on Instagram. However, multiple media reports claim so.
Celebs Karan Johar Still Follows
Karan Johar’s ‘follow’ list includes multiple Hollywood celebs. But, the list is now less cinematic and seems more strategically aspirational.
David Beckham, Justin Timberlake, Chris Hemsworth and Ellen DeGeneres all appear prominently. He also follows Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson and Mandy Moore.
Fashion occupies enormous importance throughout the following list. Sabyasachi, FARFETCH, R13 and MANÉ reflect deep engagement with luxury aesthetics. The media choices feel equally revealing.
The only sports person the Bollywood writer-producer follows now is Yuvraj Singh. He also follows Ahmed Mansur, a prominent Dubai-based film director.
BuzzFeed, GQ, People Magazine and The New York Times remain influential attention machines. Fitness personalities and visually-polished influencers appear unusually common throughout the list.
Following Zach King, Daily Dropout and Vishnu Kaushal reflect awareness about younger digital audiences.
Not The First Time
This is not the first time Karan Johar has done a digital clean-up of his social media account. In June 2020, he unfollowed hundreds of Twitter (now X) accounts. He followed only 8 accounts at that time. Out of them, four were Dharma accounts and CEO Apoorva Mehta.
Even at that time, he followed King Khan, his best friend. Among celebs, he followed Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At this moment, he does not have an active Twitter account.
