I've had sleepless nights: Karan Johar speaks on Hardik Pandya-KL Rahul controversy

Mumbai: Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul’s appearance on TV show Koffee with Karan proved to be a disaster after the two cricketers received a huge backlash from the public for their crass comments about women.

Despite the duo tendering unconditional apology in their letter to the BCCI, they were suspended from the Team India’s limited-overs tours of Australia and New Zealand respectively pending inquiry.

However, breaking silence on the whole controversy, host Karan Johar says he underwent many sleepless nights over how the whole episode turned ugly in the public eye.

"I have to say that I feel very responsible because it was my show, it was my platform. I invited them as guests and so the ramifications and repercussion of the show are my responsibility. I have had so many so many sleepless nights just wondering about how I can undo this damage, who is gonna listen to me. It's now gone into a zone which is beyond my control," he said on ET Now.

Karan did not defend himself but the producer said the questions he asked Pandya and Rahul were exactly similar to the ones he asked other guests on the show.

"I have to say and I don't defend myself when I say this. I have to say that the questions that I asked the two boys are the questions I ask everyone including women. Deepika (Padukone) and Alia (Bhatt) were on the show, I asked them those questions. I have no control about the answers that come my way," he continued.

Revealing the show is managed entirely by a women crew, Karan stated that no one working behind the scenes felt the comments were inappropriate: “Post the show, I have a control room that has about 16-17 girls, my Koffee With Karan show is being run entirely by women. None of them came to me and said anything. Some thought he was wild, he was crazy, mad and some said he was funny. But nobody came up to me and said it was inappropriate."

Karan further admitted he wasn’t justifying his statements but felt both the cricketers had already faced the consequences for their remarks.

'Stop making sense' is the mantra of my show but I am not justifying the conversation that happened on that episode. I am just saying that I think perhaps things were said that may have crossed boundaries and I apologise because it happened on my platform. I feel the boys have faced the price for their comments," he added.