For much of Gen Z in South Asia, Koffee With Karan was already part of Bollywood before they were old enough to understand many of its conversations.

The show began in 2004, meaning viewers now in their teens and twenties grew up alongside it. Celebrity relationships changed, newcomers became stars and fashion moved through different eras, while Karan Johar’s couch remained a place where Bollywood personalities talked about films, friendships, relationships and each other.

Now, that shared timeline is approaching its end. Johar has announced that the ninth season of Koffee With Karan will be its last, bringing the programme’s 22 year run to a close. The final season is scheduled to begin streaming on JioHotstar on October 14.

Part of the programme’s connection with younger viewers came from its format. Johar combined celebrity interviews with games, personal questions and the rapid fire round, creating moments that could be discussed beyond the episode.

The show also became a record of how Bollywood presented itself. Actors returned across seasons at different stages of their careers, while friendships, relationships and professional rivalries became recurring subjects.

Johar changed alongside the programme. His wardrobe moved from suits and restrained styling in the first seasons to designer jackets, prints, oversized silhouettes and statement accessories. Guests increasingly used the show as a fashion platform as well.

But Koffee With Karan also grew up alongside a generation that became more willing to question the film industry it consumed.

The word “nepotism” became closely connected with both Johar and the programme after Kangana Ranaut raised the subject during her appearance. What had largely been an insider conversation about Bollywood increasingly became a space where viewers outside it debated privilege, access, and industry connections.

At the same time, social media changed what it meant to appear on the couch.

In the programme’s earlier years, a comment could generate entertainment headlines and then fade. By its later seasons, clips could circulate across social platforms, become memes and return to celebrities years after an episode aired.

That shift also changed the conversations.

Johar has previously spoken about guests becoming more cautious, including asking what they would be questioned about and requesting that comments be removed. He later acknowledged problems with the eighth season’s rapid fire segment and said the next edition would take a different approach.

Ranbir Kapoor had already illustrated the problem. He declined to return to the programme, with Johar saying the actor believed he could face the consequences of what he said on the show for a long time afterwards. Kapoor had also spoken about controversies that began with comments made on the programme and continued beyond the episode.

That caution arguably altered one of the elements on which Koffee With Karan had been built celebrities saying things they might not say in a conventional promotional interview.

The final season, however, is returning to people associated with the show's history. Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan were reportedly recording an episode, marking their first joint appearance on the programme in 16 years.

Their return also captures what made the programme unusual in Indian entertainment. Viewers did not simply watch different celebrities each season they watched some of the same people return over decades as their careers and personal lives changed.

For Gen Z, that history increasingly lives beyond complete episodes. Old rapid fire answers, celebrity exchanges, fashion moments and arguments continue to circulate as short clips and memes, allowing scenes recorded years before the current social media era to repeatedly find new audiences.

Koffee With Karan therefore ends in a media environment different from the one in which it began. It arrived when television still controlled much of the celebrity interview and leaves when a few seconds of an interview can spark conversation across social media.

The couch may be nearing its final season, but for a generation that grew up watching, quoting, criticising and turning its moments into memes, Koffee With Karan has already become part of Bollywood’s pop culture archive.