Cannes 2025: Karan Johar reveals K3G was sold at Cannes for $5,000, a deal that changed Bollywood’s global trajectory

Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar is taking a nostalgic walk down memory lane — all the way to the French Riviera. At a recent appearance at the Bharat Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival 2025, Karan recalled his very first experience at Cannes in 2002, when he attended the festival alongside his father, the late Yash Johar.

Karan Johar opens up about his Cannes journey — from modest beginnings with Yash Johar to producing globally recognised films like Homebound

Speaking at the event, Karan revealed that their film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (K3G) was sold at the Cannes Film Market for just $5,000. “I remember thinking at the time, ‘Isn’t that too little?’ But my father told me, ‘It’s a start, we have to see where this goes,’” he said. In hindsight, that humble deal was the first domino in a chain reaction that would lead to Bollywood’s cultural breakthrough in Europe. That very year, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas premiered at Cannes, with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan making waves on the red carpet. “Aishwarya is literally the queen of Cannes,” Johar added, acknowledging her longstanding association with the festival.

More than two decades later, Karan is back on the Croisette — this time as a producer. His film Homebound has been selected in the prestigious Un Certain Regard segment of the 2025 edition. The milestone comes after a career full of international forays, including the 2013 Cannes screening of Bombay Talkies, an anthology he co-directed alongside Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, and Dibakar Banerjee. That year proved pivotal in more ways than one. “It was also when I met Guneet Monga,” Johar shared. “I watched The Lunchbox, which was being loved across the board, and I decided to present the film in Hindi back home in India.”

From a modest $5,000 sale to producing globally recognised cinema, Karan’s Cannes journey proves how far Indian film has come on the global stage — and how it all began with a father’s quiet belief in potential.