Thirty-four years after he last played a racquet sport—badminton—Karan Johar started playing pickleball in his 50s. A mash-up of tennis, table tennis and badminton, the non-contact sport is growing in popularity in India. And the filmmaker is among the many who have taken a fancy to it.
Johar, 52, is the brand ambassador of the Indian Open and Global Sports Pro and Challenger League 2025. Ten teams will participate in the tournament, scheduled to be held from February 3 to 9 in Mumbai. Global Sports is a leading sports management firm that has been promoting pickleball across the country under the leadership of Hemal Jain, and co-founders Niraj Jain, Divyesh Jain and Suresh Bhansali. Filmmaker Shashank Khaitan and Yuvraj Ruia, Pro Pickleball player and scion of Essar Industries, are partners.
In an interview with Forbes India, Johar speaks about being a part of the pickleball revolution, taking the sport global, the commercial aspect of the game, and how the association of Bollywood celebrities gives it an additional fillip. Edited excerpts:
Q. How did you’ll decide to start the league and what is the idea behind it?
Global Sports was brought to me by Shashank Khaitan, a prolific filmmaker and a dear friend, and I could see way back then that his passion was so immense. And then when I did my research, I realised that pickleball is going to be an eventual revolution. It’s going to really pick up. Because it’s a sport and no matter how old you are, you can get into it for the first time. I am in my 50s and I am playing pickleball. I hadn’t played a racket sport in 34 years. Playing pickleball was game-changing for me. Which is why I think that it is not just a revolution for the youth, but across decades, across generations. You could be in your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, even 80s, and you could be playing pickleball, which means that it’s a pop culture revolution. And collectively we saw that coming. And I felt that if it’s a revolution, why not be a part of it.
Q. When you did your research, what stood out and convinced you to get involved with the game?
I realised pickleball is more than a sport. It’s contributing to pop culture. Sport is associated with competitiveness and physical fitness, and communities that are rallying behind a particular sport. But very rarely is a sport contributing to pop culture. For me, pop culture is music, books, entertainment… even the internet is contributing so strongly to it. But there’s never been a sport that’s actually contributing to pop culture. Pop culture also equals relevance. To be relevant, you have to engage with pop culture. And pickleball is the only sport that is heavily contributing to pop culture.
Also read: Pickleball in India: Big leagues beckon
Q. What are the short-term and long-term goals of the league?
There is only a long-term goal. How can there be a short-term goal for something that is a revolution? A long-term goal is, of course, making it to the Olympics. It’s going beyond that, going global with it. Global Sports has already made inroads into Dubai. Then it’s going to be across the world. I think Shashank and the team are engaging in absolute intensity to make sure that Global Sports lives up to its name and goes beyond global… which it already has, the process has begun. I think some of the most prolific names in the world of industry and entertainment are now affiliating with pickleball and Global Sports, and I think that is only going to exponentially expand. So, as I said, it’s the beginning of a revolution.
Q. There are a lot of pickleball leagues in India suddenly. It’s a crowded space. Do you think the Indian sports ecosystem will be able to handle the sudden and explosive growth?
Global Sports is a pioneer, a market leader, and actually began the pickleball rolling much before anybody else did. Imitation is a form of flattery, so if there are other leagues, and they started after Global Sports, we are saying, ‘Welcome to the party, but remember we started it first’.
Q. How is this league different from the others?
Because I am a part of it (smiles).
Q. Tell us about the sponsorships and partnerships. Is this a commercial venture as well?
Yes, absolutely. Every sport is commercialised. Like every entertainment or art is commercialised, it is too. And, of course, we have huge interest in sponsors across our industrial base, corporate base that are engaging because, as you know, sport and industry have always held hands, they have come together. So I think that’s what’s happening even at our end. You can see the interest from all the branding. There’s a huge amount of interest in our pickleball league.
Q. A lot of Bollywood celebrities are team owners now. Do you feel that helps promote the sport and start a conversation around it?
The movie industry has always contributed to the face value of sports. As you see with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in cricket, the biggest movie star in the country has a team. And you know that the team has so much love because of its brilliant performance, but also the fact that Shah Rukh Khan adds so much. So Bollywood always adds to the brand value and gives a sport or an entity a face.
Q. Why didn’t you get into cricket, for instance?
Because that time, I didn’t see the vision that I see for pickleball now.
Q. This is the first edition of the league. Is there a plan to scale it up?
Yes. We come from the world of scaled entertainment, so why not operate that in sport as well. I believe in bigness in cinema… why not in sport?
Q. Five years down the line, when you look at this league, are there certain milestones or numbers that you have in mind that you want to achieve?
I’ve never played the five-year game. I live in the moment. You never know ‘kal ho na ho’ (there may or may not be tomorrow). You live today.