Our source narrates, "After watching the first copy of his Dostana, Karan had returned part of the Minimum Guarantee royalty amount he had received from Yash and Aditya Chopra towards the worldwide rights of the film because he felt, he had overcharged them.
Although Karan will not reveal a word about the refund, the source tells us that he (Karan) felt that since the film was very urban in its content, as it was a comedy about purported gays, it would run mainly in the cities even though it would be perceived as a hit."
"Rather than wait for the public to pronounce its judgement and then refund part of the Minimum Guarantee royalty amount, Karan used his discretion and sense of fair play to return it before the film's release.
It may be recalled that Dostana was the first film for which the Chopras paid Minimum Guarantee royalty. Their earlier acquisitions for distribution have all been on commission basis."
Karan Johar had kept all this under wraps and didn't want to seek publicity over it, unlike many others in the industry who would have patted their own back for such a thing if they ever did anything remotely closer to that.