फराह खान@61, पिता के जनाजे के लिए कर्ज लिया: 7 साल तक चुकाया, कंगाली में घर का फर्नीचर तक बिका, जानिए कैसे बनीं स्टार

There used to be a stuntman in Hindi cinema, his name was Kamran Khan. He was married to Maneka Irani, sister of Javed Akhtar’s first wife Honey Irani. A daughter was born in this film family on 9 January 1965, named Farah Khan.

There was a luxurious 5-room house, many properties, there was an Impala car in the house and there was a lot of fame, but then a time came when Farah did not have money even for her father’s funeral.

Farah was just 5 years old when her father Kamran invested all his savings and made the film ‘Aisa Bhi Hota Hai’ (1971).

Jalal Aga, Rupesh Kumar and Nandita Bose were in lead roles in the film Aisa Bhi Hota Hai.

This film flopped badly, due to which all the money was lost. To compensate for the loss, the father made some B-grade films, but one by one they all flopped. The family was deeply in debt. First the vehicles of the house were sold and then the property and jewellery. To get rid of the debtors, even the gramophone and furniture of the house had to be sold.

Farah Khan with father Kamran, brother Sajid in her lap and mother Maneka.

Kamran, who once traveled in a luxury car like Impala, could not bear this loss. He started drinking alcohol. The drinking program would start in the morning and by evening the atmosphere at home would turn into fights and drama. Many times the mother left home, and sometimes the father, under the influence of alcohol, vented his anger by beating the children.

Farah and younger brother Sajid spent their childhood in this environment.

Farah’s childhood picture taken with father Kamran Khan.

Farah was fond of films and dance since childhood. When the conditions of her house were good, at the age of just 3-4 years, as soon as Farah came to know that guests had come, she would dress up like Helen and show everyone dance. One reason for this was that in the small room in Nehru Nagar Society of Mumbai where she lived, mostly struggling directors, producers and flop singers used to live there. The discussion among the people coming and going was always related to films.

One day popular actor Dara Singh reached his house. He had done a film with Farah’s father Kamran. As soon as Farah danced in front of him, Dara Singh immediately asked his father. Said, Kamran, your daughter dances so well, will you bring it into films.

The father said in a stern voice, Never, she is still small, so I am letting her dance. Will not do it later.

Same thing happened. Due to financial constraints, the gramophone at home had been sold and there was no facility to play songs, so Farah also stopped dancing. Now, for entertainment, she used to wait for the films to be shown in theaters on Fridays. Whenever she got a few rupees from somewhere, she used to watch movies with her younger brother Sajid.

Got inspiration to become a dancer by imitating Michael Jackson

Farah was in her teens when video cassettes arrived at the house of her neighbour, actor Tej Sapru. One of the cassettes was of Michael Jackson’s song Thriller. Farah used to go to the neighboring house every day and imitate Michael Jackson by watching videos. He soon copied the entire dance and from here he got the inspiration to pursue a career in dance. She used to dance at home secretly from her father.

On the other hand, the fights between the alcoholic father and mother started increasing. There came a time when mother, fed up with the daily fights, left the house and started living with sister Daisy Irani. Farah, her younger brother Sajid and mother used to live in a small room there.

She spent a few days at the house of her second aunt Honey Irani, where she used to play a lot with cousins ​​Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar. Similarly, Farah’s childhood was spent sometimes in her aunt’s house and sometimes in her own house.

Farah Khan dancing with cousin Farhan Akhtar.

Farah had told in Sania Mirza’s podcast that her house had a hall, a room and a kitchen. In the evening, 6-7 of father’s friends used to gather in the hall to play cards. While playing, some would leave 5 rupees, some 10, in such a situation his family would get about 30 rupees daily, which would provide ration, milk and other necessary items for the next day. On some days, if more people came, mutton would be available and on the days less people came, expenses had to be cut down.

There were only 30 rupees in the house at the time of father’s death.

Farah was just 17 years old when her father passed away. Such was the situation of poverty that instead of mourning, the family was worried about how the funeral arrangements would be made. When I searched my father’s pocket, I found only Rs 30. In such a situation, Farah took a rickshaw with her brother and went to every relative’s house and asked to borrow money for the funeral.

Farah Khan herself had told that in this difficult time, Salman Khan’s father Salim Khan gave her money for the funeral and also gave her enough money to provide food for her family for several days.

Now the entire responsibility of the house was on the shoulders of Farah Khan. Farah Khan’s brother Sajid, who came in Bigg Boss 13, had told that he often used to go to Juhu beach and dance, due to which he used to earn some money.

With time, Farah Khan joined a dance group and started working as a background dancer in Hindi films. In the year 1987, Farah Khan got work as a dancer in the film Jalwa. She was also seen dancing behind lead actress Archana Puran Singh in the film’s song Feeling Hot Hot Hot.

Farah Khan with Archana Puran Singh in the song from the film Jalwa.

When I got an offer to become a background dancer, I kept the condition of becoming an assistant director.

After working as a dancer in small films, Farah Khan also worked as an assistant director. She used to get other dancers rehearsed on the set. One day director Mansoor Ali Khan, who made Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, reached the set of a film. In those days, he was preparing for his next film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.

On the set, he saw that a girl was diligently conducting dance rehearsals for all the dancers. She was Farah Khan. Mansoor Ali Khan needed a background dancer for his film, so he went to Farah and said, will you work as a dancer in my film. In response, Farah said, on one condition that you will have to keep me as assistant director also. Mansoor Ali agreed and Farah Khan joined Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.

Farah Khan holding a clap board on the sets of the film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.

Aamir Khan was in the lead role in the film, which was being directed by his cousin Mansoor Ali Khan. Saroj Khan was doing the choreography of the film. Saroj Khan used to show the dance steps and Farah used to get all the dancers rehearsed. Farah had told in an interview that after watching Saroj Khan’s choreography, she repeatedly thought that she could show better steps than this. Farah’s thought soon came true.

Initially the lead actress of this film was Girija Shettar. Saroj Khan was assigned to shoot 3 songs with him in 17 days.

Girija Shettar with Aamir Khan in the film Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.

At that time, Saroj Khan was a big choreographer, who used to have many films simultaneously. Saroj Khan shot only one song with lead actress Girija in 17 days instead of three. As soon as he finished this work, he had to shoot a song for Jackie Shroff’s film King Uncle, which was to be shot in Shimla.

At the same time, the next song of the film ‘Pehla Nasha’ was to be shot, but Saroj Khan did not have time. In such a situation, director Mansoor Ali Khan advised him to prepare the steps and leave his assistant here and go to Shimla himself. Saroj Khan left her two assistants Upendra and Sheela and went to Shimla.

When she returned to Mumbai, she came to know that the film’s lead actress Girija had left the film, now Ayesha Julka was to be cast in her place, due to which the shooting of the film was stopped.

After the shooting of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar got halted, Saroj Khan got busy with her other films, but then one day she got a call that instead of the lead actor-actress, Saroj Khan would have to first shoot a song with the film’s second heroine Pooja Bedi, but by then Saroj had started working on other films. She told the director to do this song with another choreographer and she would return and do the remaining songs.

At that time Farah Khan used to give claps in films. Mansoor Ali Khan knew that Farah was the only one on the set who knew how to dance, so Mansoor Ali Khan gave her the job of teaching dance. Farah gave excellent steps, after which other songs of the film were also choreographed by Farah Khan.

People associated with the film industry liked Farah’s work in this film so much that she started getting offers for choreography continuously.

Within a few years, Farah gained a hold in the film industry with her skills and then she started being counted among the best choreographers.

Despite being successful in choreography, Farah fulfilled her dream which she had seen at the age of just 20. Farah watched the film Arjun, released in 1985, in which Sunny Deol was in the lead role. She was only 20 years old, but as soon as she saw the film, she made up her mind that one day she would also become a director. With time, Farah established herself as a choreographer, but did not leave this dream unfulfilled.

In the year 2004, he started the second innings of his career as a director with the film Main Hoon Na. Farah Khan got the idea of ​​making this film during the shooting of the film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Actually, Farah and Shahrukh became good friends while shooting the film Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na in 1994.

Then both of them worked together in the film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. While doing this film, Farah got the idea of ​​making a film on college life, but while doing Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Shahrukh was worried that no one would accept him in the role of a college student at his age. Farah dropped the idea right there.

Years later, he narrated the story of the film Main Hoon Na to Shahrukh Khan on the sets of the film Mohabbatein. Shahrukh liked the story so much that he said that he would not only be the hero of the film but would also produce it.

The film Main Hoon Na is the second highest grossing film of 2004.

The first film made under Farah’s direction was a superhit and she received many awards. Further he also made films like Om Shanti Om, Tees Maar Khan, Happy New Year. Even though Farah’s directorial venture Tees Maar Khan was a flop at that time, it is now included in the cult films.

Today Farah is one of the most successful women of Hindi cinema, who is expert in every field like direction, choreography, writing. Despite this, Farah has started her YouTube channel only a few months ago, which is very popular. Farah has told in an interview that she is earning more from YouTube than she earns from films.