Filmmaker-choreographer Farah Khan recently opened up about her turbulent childhood, rejecting the “nepo kid” tag as she revisited her family’s dramatic fall from wealth to poverty after her father Kamran Khan’s film Aisa Bhi Hota Hai failed at the box office.
‘We became paupers’
“I am not a nepo kid,” Farah said, adding, “We became paupers… I am not a nepo kid. My dad died a pauper. When he died, he had Rs 30 in his pocket.”Recalling the turning point, she told Ranveer Allahbadia, “As the sun went down, we used to start shaking because we knew now anything can happen during the night after my father would hit the bottle.”
She continued, “It was riches to rags because my dad was doing extremely well. He got ambitious and he wanted to make a colour film with a bigger star and that’s where he spent all his money. He mortgaged the house and everything.”“That one film, it released on Friday, and by Sunday, we were poor, reverse 5-6 years old.”Speaking about the aftermath, Farah revealed, “We could not call people at home for years. My mom had left, and we could not tell people that my parents were separated because it was a different time.”She also shared that her father, ashamed of the situation, “didn’t work for 13 years.”
‘I was sidelined… the attention went to the son’
Opening up about her childhood, she said, “Because my dad was not a successful director, so I always wanted to be a director. Also, my childhood was all about films. We used to discuss films and go and watch a lot of films.”She added, “In Main Hoon Na, Amrita’s character came from me because my dad wanted a son and the minute Sajid Khan was born, I was sidelined. Though I know he loved me, but the attention went to the son. So, the wanting to be the alpha female comes from there.”
Talking about her early struggles, Farah said, “First thing I bought was a fridge for Rs 4000.”She added, “I had to leave college because I didn’t have attendance. My mother gave me a lot of grief because she was heartbroken, so after 3–4 years, I got my degree.” Farah, 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 starring Shah Rukh Khan, apart from choreographing countless hits.
