Filmmaker-choreographer Farah Khan recently opened up about his troubled childhood, shrugging off the ‘nepo kid’ tag as he recounted his family’s dramatic fall from wealth to poverty after his father Kamran Khan’s Aisa Bhi Hota Hai failed at the box office.
‘We became sick’
“I am not a grandchild,” said Farah, “we became destitute… I am not a grandchild. My father died poor. When he died, he had 30 rupees in his pocket.”Recalling the turning point, Ranveer told Allahbadia, “When the sun went down, we would start shaking because we knew that anything could happen tonight after my father hit the bottle.”
He continued: “It was riches to rags because my father was doing so well. He was ambitious and wanted to make a color film with a bigger star and spent all his money there. He mortgaged the house and everything.”“That film was released on Friday, and by Sunday, we were poor, on the contrary at 5-6 years old.”Speaking about the aftermath, Farah stated: “For years we couldn’t call people home. My mum left, and we couldn’t tell people my parents split up because it was a different time.”Also, his father, ashamed of the situation, “didn’t work for 13 years.”
‘I was distracted… focused on my son’
Opening up about her childhood, she said, “My father was not a successful director, so I always wanted to be a director. Also, my childhood was all about movies. We used to discuss movies and go to see a lot of movies.”He added, “In Main Hoon Na, the character of Amrita came from me because my father wanted a son and the moment Sajid Khan was born, I was sidelined. Although I know he loved me, but he focused on his son. So wanting to be an alpha woman comes from that.”
Talking about her initial struggles, Farah said, “The first thing I bought was a refrigerator for Rs 4000.”He added, “I had to drop out of college because I didn’t have attendance. My mom gave me a lot of grief because she broke my heart, so after 3-4 years, I got my degree.” Farah, the daughter of Kamran Khan and former actor Menaka Irani, went on to become one of the most successful names in Bollywood, directing films like Om Shanti Om and Happy New Year. Shah Rukh Khanin addition to choreographing eleven hits.
