"The chemistry between Abhishek, John and Priyanka is fantastic" - Karan Johar

Karan Johar seems unperturbed by the scarcity of clothes and the profusion of gay jokes in Dostana. Defends Karan, "It's fun and new. We've made sure not to offend any group or community. I'd never make a film that would offend anybody. Dostana has a great look and it's a clean happy watch. The chemistry among Abhishek, John and Priyanka is fantastic. As for the gay jokes, I think it's time for everyone to wake up to social reality. I had gay jokes in Kal Ho Naa Ho. And no one was offended."

There are rumours of a further delay in starting My Name Is Khan because of Aditya Chopra's film Karan Johar retorts. "Far from it. Adi's film releases on December 12 and I start immediately after. Yes, I did delay a bit for him initially. But it was a very minor delay for a month. If he asked me, I'd delay my film a year for him. Not only that, Yash Raj Films distributes our films. So where's the question of competition between us?"

In fact Adi and Karan are supposed to be making Hindi versions of the same film, Arlington Road. Karan gets irritable, "Look, the film that Rensil D'Silva is directing for me and the one that Kabir Khan is doing for Adi both have terrorism at the background. So there would be similarities. Rensil's film and Kabir's film have terrorism as their base but different themes. Both Rensil and Kabir have worked hard on their scripts."

As for Karan's next directorial venture, he clears some misconceptions. "My Name Is Khan has nothing to do with terrorism. It has Shah Rukh and Kajol in the lead. More than anything else, it is an emotional drama. It's more about the absence of humanism than politics. I'm not fighting for any cause. But at the end of the day, cinema is a reflection of the times. In the 1970s and 80s, political upheaval was huge. In the new millennium, international terrorism is as huge a problem as global warming. But since global warming doesn't make dramatic viewing, the terrorist is definitely the antagonist of our times. I've seen A Wednesday which I absolutely loved. I'd love to meet and congratulate the director. In fact I wrote a whole blog about the film."

Any mention of the film being about the Islamic Identity now puts Karan on the defensive. "At its heart, My Name Is Khan is a love story. At its soul it makes a social statement and at its core it's a tale of the triumph of the human spirit. My writer Shibani Bathija and I come from the same emotional head-space. Anyway it's too early to talk about the film."

Shibani has just delivered a dud called Kidnap."I haven't seen Kidnap. I was down with a viral fever when it was released", Karan is quick to state. "So I can't comment on the film. But I can say My Name Is Khan is Shibani's baby all the way. She has given two years of her life to researching on Shah Rukh's character. I'd be just executing her vision. As for her work in other films, every creative person falters. You need to move on. Even I've made mistakes. But that doesn't stop me from taking risks. I think I took a big risk with Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. I don't think any other director has made a Rs 50 crore film on infidelity."

Karan now recently returned from location-hunting in London and Los Angeles. Call him a seasoned traveler and he retorts, "I'm a traveler for all seasons. We're shooting My Name Is Khan in San Francisco and LA. With KANK and now My Name Is Khan, I want the bubble to burst about my bubblegum cinema."