While replying to his followers' tweets on 6 March 2016, Johar revealed that season 5 will be back later that year. On 6 October, Johar confirmed the first episode will air on 6 November 2016 at its usual time slot. Going back to tradition, the season premiered with Shah Rukh Khan as the featured guest who was joined by Alia Bhatt, both having recently worked on "Dear Zindagi" of which Johar was a producer. Twinkle Khanna made her first appearance on the show in season 5, appearing alongside her husband Akshay Kumar. Veteran actor Jackie Shroff also made his debut this season; he came on in the 13th episode along with his son, actor Tiger Shroff. Indian tennis player Sania Mirza appeared in the 14th episode, becoming the second sports personality to be on the show. The Koffee Awards, which were not given out in season 4, was brought back and aired as the penultimate episode of the season with the finale, a best of episode, being aired on 19 March 2017.