It’s primarily because the conversations shifted from customary conjectures and struck important discussions while keeping the hour light-hearted. Well, the episode was gonna be entertaining was a given, with Ranveer’s infectious energy, Deepika’s panache, and the couple being the fan-favourite. But this time, it had a flavour of nuance that one generally doesn’t expect with Koffee With Karan episodes. After all, it’s popularly dubbed as a ‘guilty pleasure’ for many.

What also made it even more rare and special was seeing the host, Karan Johar, taking a moment for himself and opening up about his loneliness and mental health battles.

Five years after their marriage, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone made a call to share their adorable wedding video with fans for the first time ever. The video was also the first for Karan Johar, who revealed he had not seen it before.  

Like most of us, Karan Johar was heart-touched to see their love and intense admiration for one another oozing out from the video. Teary-eyed, he went and hugged the duo and was almost on the verge of crying.

This is when he opened up about the loneliness he’s been feeling. The kind that often accompanies people who are single but really seek to be in a ‘healthy’ relationship with someone they can share their sweet nothings with.

Johar did mention that he’d rather be single than be with somebody who may not be the right match for his life. However, we all want to be loved in the end, don’t we? Not to say that family and friends don’t add love and beauty to our lives, and Johar acknowledged it. But the connection being referred to here is seeking a soul connection you establish with your romantic partner.

Later on in the conversation, Johar recalled how he had seen Deepika sobbing and speaking about her battle with mental health challenges back in the day and how he had felt he could not connect with her until now when he’s himself dealing with it. While the coronavirus pandemic life took a toll on a lot of us, Johar spoke about the attack he recently had at the NMACC event. He remembered feeling anxious and clueless about what was happening to him.

He is on medication and battling with it at his own pace now.

Karan Johar is friends with all the celebrity guests he calls but is infamous for putting them on the spot. He rarely ever talks about his personal battles and experiences on the Koffee couch. But he did this time, and because he kept the conversation engaging yet intimate at the same time, connecting with his guests on a personal note, made the episode unique and special. And by the way, this is not our singular opinion. People loved it too.

Basically, this episode felt REAL, which is not the word we often use to describe the Koffee episodes. And yes, hearing frivolous conversations and getting juicy beans have their own excitement rooted in notorious pleasure. But at a time like this, with all that has happened and has been happening around the world, real grounded conversations resonated more than sticking with just the guilty-pleasure aspect would’ve. Hope this season continues the trend and becomes more than surface-level conversations from a privileged lens and gets depth while, of course, keeping it light and fun.

All the snapshots have been taken from Koffee With Karan S8 Episode 1. You can watch it here.