Filmmaker Karan Johar shares a close bond with actress Alia Bhatt since the beginning of latter's journey in Bollywood. In the year 2012, Alia made her acting debut with Karan Johar's 'Student Of The Year' and since then, Karan has acted as a mentor of sorts in Alia's life. Unfortunately, the filmmaker often faces trolling and negativity for his bond with the actress.

In a recent conversation with Siddharth Kannan, Karan addressed this issue and stated, "I think Alia and I just make each other cry. I see a lot of hate for the relationship both of us share like, online when I look. I don't know why people get so annoyed. I'm allowed to love somebody from my heart."

Talking further about his feelings for Alia, Karan stated, "She's the first person I felt parental about. She's the first person I felt like I had a parental instinct for. I love her and the country knows she's one of our finest actors. I have a tremendous amount of love, respect and admiration and I'm allowed to say what I want about her. So, if I cry at her good news and I really feel good then I'm allowed to. I'm like a parent to her. Why should I be pretending for optics. I genuinely love her and I want to say it all the time."