Kiara Advani recalls confronting Sidharth Malhotra for being ‘hot and cold’, talks breakup before marriage

Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani opened up about their relationship on Koffee With Karan Season 9, revealing how they first connected, why Kiara once confronted Sidharth about his commitment, and how they reunited after a brief split before getting married.

The episode marked the couple’s first joint appearance on the chat show. They are expecting their second child.

Karan Johar claims credit

Host Karan Johar said he played a role in bringing the couple together. “I don’t have an exact part to play, but I am going to give myself some credit for the reason y’all are together,” he said.

The two first met properly at a party hosted by their friend Amritpal Bindra after the filming of Lust Stories. Karan admitted he had gatecrashed the event, with Kiara adding, “You even made us gatecrash.”

“After that evening, we got chatting. And a few weeks later, he started to get into my DM,” Kiara said.

Shershaah and the Kargil phase

The couple grew closer while filming Shershaah. Sidharth said their relationship developed alongside the on-screen love story of Captain Vikram Batra and Dimple Cheema.

Kiara said they were initially at different points in their lives. “He was in that phase of ‘I need to make it in my career and take the next step.’ While I was in that phase where I was like, okay, let’s see what happens,” she said. Sidharth added that Kiara was clear she wanted marriage or nothing.

On the night before her birthday, Kiara confronted him. “You are very hot and cold with me,” she told him. “I am the person who is like, you are either in or you are out. This in-between, I don’t understand, I can’t do it.”

Before leaving for the Kargil schedule, Sidharth told her he needed to focus on his career. “I know you are the kind of person that if I commit to, then this will be something solid. And I am just in a place in my life where I really need to focus on my work,” Kiara recalled him saying.

But once in Kargil, he called and texted her daily. “There was nothing else to do,” Sidharth joked. “For 30 days straight there was constant chatting and I was like, ‘Sid, what’s going on? I thought you wanted to focus,’” Kiara said. The couple officially began dating during this period.

Break-up and reunion

Sidharth said their relationship had ups and downs, including periods of distance. “Four years later, we were quite sure about it,” he said.

Karan revealed the couple briefly broke up before deciding to marry. “I haven’t seen Sid this miserable in my life and expressing it, and I could tell he is in love,” he said.

Sidharth later visited Kiara with flowers on the set of JugJugg Jeeyo, where she was shooting the song “Rangisari.” “I have never seen this version of Sid,” Kiara said, joking, “I should have played a little more hard-to-get.”

Sidharth recalled it differently: “I just walked into her vanity and said, ‘Hi, how are you?’”

Karan said the reunion came the day before his 50th birthday. “Cut to proposal in June. This was May. And then the marriage the next Feb,” he said.

Sidharth on The Vvaan’s success

Away from their love story, the conversation also turned to Sidharth’s latest release, The Vvaan: Force of the Forrest. Karan pointed out that there had been considerable talk about the film failing at the box office, and both Sidharth and Kiara acknowledged the doubts surrounding the fantasy adventure before its September release.

The film went on to earn ₹91.49 crore worldwide. Sidharth said its reception shows that audiences are drawn to stories rooted in Indian culture.

“I think they are doing their job and we are doing our job,” he said. “There is an India and there is a Bharat. I think Bharat is what is coming out to watch our films. They want to watch something rooted, something to them and rooted in culture.”

He added that The Vvaan fit that space, “whether it is the writing, performance, whether it was sequences.”

Sidharth also called out the film industry for being quick to criticise. “Our industry has more of that and nobody has anything good thing to say. What we need as a sense of an industry where people help each other,” he said. Kiara agreed.

When asked about film critics during the rapid-fire round, Sidharth said, “Give your opinion, but it is not always about dissing or discouraging people to go to the theatres.”

The Vvaan draws from folklore linked to the Van Devi Temple near Bihta in Bihar. Sidharth plays Rishi, a Mumbai man who visits the village of Devanchal with his wife Mamta, played by Tamannaah Bhatia, and learns of its warning against entering the forest after dark. The film is now streaming on Prime Video.