As Friendship Day, which will be observed on August 3, draws closer, Pati Brahmchari actor Worship Khanna shared that with friends around, every day is Friendship Day. He said, “When your friend is with you, then every day is Friendship Day. So I don’t think there’s any special celebration for it.”
“Every moment, every second is a celebration when you’re with the right person, with your friend,” he added.
He agrees that the industry makes it challenging for two actors to become friends. He said, “The reason I feel a practical reason is that in Bombay, many of us are outsiders. We come from outside and are always running around. We all try to make connections, not relationships. And where it’s only about connections, real relationships can’t develop. That’s why I feel people here mostly become friends for some reason or use. The real relationship comes later.”
“But I’m not like that at all. With me, if my vibe matches with someone, if I feel a connection, only then do I bond. Otherwise, contacts and networking—that’s a separate thing. Of course, I do that too, but I don’t call that friendship,” he added.
He stressed that there is a big difference between friendship and networking. He said, “Some people think networking is friendship. I’m sorry, but that’s not friendship. Friendship is something very different, with a totally different meaning.”
Worship also revealed that he has a few friends who are in the industry but whom he got to know before they entered the acting profession. He said, “During my struggling time, in my initial days when I came to Bombay, the people who became my friends are also in the industry. But we became friends first and grew together. We reached the industry later.”
For him a perfect time with his friends would be just a cup of tea at a roadside stall. He added, “If we’re sitting in a car and munching something or eating street food, that’s also a moment. For me, that’s quality time. I have only a few friends with whom I’ve had tea at tapris and also dined in five-star hotels. With those same friends, I’ve had Maggi on the roadside during outings when we weren’t feeling good, and we’ve also checked in at fancy resorts for holidays. So we’ve grown together.”
He further said, “There was a time when we didn’t have money. I had only one Activa scooter. We’d just go out on it when we weren’t feeling good at home or when our mood was off. We only had enough money for one soup, so we’d order one soup and share it, one by two. Today, those same friends take out their cars, and we check into nice resorts with our pets, with his wife and family. They are family to me. And when you’ve seen each other’s full journey and grown together, then that’s friendship. That’s why, whether we’re eating homemade khichdi together or five-star meals or drinking tea at a tapri, every moment becomes memorable and the best moment for me.”
Though he is still in touch with his school friends, he revealed that he never really shared a good bond with his school friends during that time. He said, “During my whole school life, I never had any friend, truly speaking, whom I could call a real friend. They were my classmates. My first real friend I made in college. Then my second friend I made in Bombay. So I have only those few selected people, and I only call them my friends. When people say, ‘He or she is my friend,’ I don’t believe in that. For me, friendship is a big relationship; it’s the only relationship we get to choose ourselves. It’s not a blood relation, but it can become more important than a blood relation.”
“You start feeling happiness in their success and growth. That is true friendship, and I believe in only that. Today my friends are mostly my co-workers, artists, or colleagues on set. And that is called networking. That is not friendship. I’ll say it again: friendship is where you can go to any extent for the other person. You believe that whoever becomes successful first will take the other one forward. You stand by each other. You do anything for each other. It’s not just a professional bond; it becomes a personal one too. You’re there through their good and bad times, hospitals, doctors, happiness, and sadness—that’s friendship. And that becomes family,” he added.
He also mentioned that for him, best friends are like an extended family. “I have just one best friend. I won’t say I have four best friends. My best friend is younger than me; I treat him like my younger brother. I’ve always felt like he’s a little kid to me. Watching his growth and success makes me so proud. We started together, and he’s doing so well. It’s not a filmy dialogue, but trust me, it’s a fatherly feeling. It’s like your heart fills with pride that your ‘child’ is doing great. He started his career in front of me. He went out, worked, fell, got up, and learned, and I was always there throughout the journey. So when he does something good, I feel a lot of joy,” he said.
“I feel like we both have learned together from our mistakes. Sometimes I taught him something. Sometimes he taught me something. And I know only one thing: that no matter what situations come in life, no matter how hard the times are, we will never leave each other. Fights and arguments happen everywhere, and they happen between us too. Many times our thoughts don’t match—sometimes his, sometimes mine. But that never means that it affects our friendship, even a little. We both know that when one of us needs the other, we will stand by each other. We need to talk every day. We need to meet every day. Our families are connected to each other. And we know what the other is working on. If I do some new work, I tell him. If he’s doing something new, he tells me. Then he sends me his rough cuts, and I watch them. So it’s not just a personal relationship; it’s also a professional one. We discuss our work life too. We discuss our personal life. We are those kinds of friends who, when we sit down to talk, discuss our careers, work, and growth. And at the same time, we also share our personal problems, like what issues we are facing at home. So where you can talk without filters, where you can truly care for someone, and where you can feel their pain like it’s your own—that is friendship. And I’ve always had that feeling for him. Every single day, I pray for just one thing: that my younger brother becomes really successful and achieves great heights.” Worship ended.
