"'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani' was inspired by the real-life couple, Twinkle Khanna and Akshay Kumar," says Karan Johar

Back in the director’s chair after seven long years for Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Karan Johar has been showered with love and only love by the audiences. This was evident in the number of people turning up at the theatres and people raving about the movie and how much they missed Johar's cinema. While we all loved the romance that blossomed between Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, did we know a real-life couple was the inspiration for this story? In a recent interview with a leading news portal, Johar revealed that the ‘camaraderie’ between star couple Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna may have ‘subconsciously’ inspired the lead characters of his latest film.

Opening up about the same, Johar further said, “Maybe subconsciously (I got inspired). They have a tremendous friendship in their marriage. I've had dinners with them and hung out with them. And there's a terrific kind of comfort in their camaraderie. He finds her hilarious, she finds him hilarious, for different reasons. So I felt it wasn't impossible for people who come from two different demographics of society, two stratas, to actually find love. It's like we put ourselves in boxes. Like when we're finding a relationship, we put ourselves in places where we're comfortable. But tomorrow, you can fall in love with someone anywhere,” Johar said in the interview.

Khanna and Kumar’s love story began when the two met on the sets of Umesh Mehra's action film International Khiladi. They tied the knot in 2001 and later had two children, a son named Aarav and a daughter named Nitara.

Such is the friendship between Johar and Khanna that the two didn’t just go to the same boarding school as kids, but the director wrote the character of Tina (named after Twinkle's nickname) in his 1998 directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai for her, although she rejected the part.