The 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' director has written his side of the story in the book, "My first problem was with Kareena. She asked for too much money and we had some kind of a fallout at that time. 'Mujhse Dosti Karoge!' had just released, directed by Kunal Kohli. She said, 'Aditya Chopra's assistant Kunal Kohli has made this flop, so Karan Johar's assistant, Nikhil Advis is not to be trusted either'."

Karan Johar talks about the reason behind the clash, "The weekend of 'Mujhse Dosti Karoge's release, I offered her 'Kal Ho Naa Ho', and she asked for the same money that Shah Rukh Khan was getting. I said, 'Sorry'." The television personality further stated that this demand of Kareena hurt him due to which they were not in talking terms.

Shedding light on the rough patch of their friendship and how the filmmaker signed bubbly actress Priety Zinta for 'Kal Ho Na ho', he revealed, "I was very hurt. I told my father, 'Leave that negotiation room' and I called her. She didn't take my call, and I said, 'We're not taking her.' And signed Preity Zinta instead. Kareena and I didn't speak to each other for almost a year. For a year, we looked through each other at parties. It was very idiotic. She was a kid; she's a decade younger than me."

Karan wrote, "We were releasing 'Kal Ho Naa Ho' in November. We had shot the film in June, July, August and in September I had to shoot the songs, make the promos and so on. So, I had to head back, while my father continued the treatment in New York. That was the time Kareena Kapoor called me. It was August. We had not spoken for nine months. She called and said, 'I heard about Yash uncle.' She got really emotional on the phone, and she said, 'I love you and I am so sorry I haven't been in touch. Don't worry'."