One’s story of going from riches to rags is not new in Bollywood. Many actors, directors, and producers have seen immense success in the film industry, only to later die penniless, owing to some bad decisions.
One such story is of Kamran Khan, a former actor and stuntman from the 1960s and 1970s who directed B-grade action films starring Dara Singh such as Beqasoor, Watan Se Door, Ilzam, and Panch Ratan. After the birth of his second child, Kamran Khan decided to go mainstream and mortgaged all his properties, invested his entire life savings in an ambitious project starring Sanjeev Kumar in the lead role. After Sanjeev Kumar quit the film midway, Kamran Khan’s condition became such that he was drowning in debts of lakhs of rupees. Overnight, he lost everything, got addicted to alcohol, and went into depression.
Who was Farah Khan and Sajid Khan’s Kamran Khan?
After his ambitious project with Sanjeev Kumar failed, Kamran Khan, filmmaker and the father of Farah Khan and Sajid Khan, did not work for more than a decade. This not only led to his marriage crumbling but also left him with no money till his last breath. The family did not even have money for his funeral and had to borrow it from his close friend, Salim Khan, superstar Salman Khan’s father.
The condition of the family and Kamran Khan’s debts were so severe that his teenage children had to start earning at a young age to pay them off.
Farah Khan was forced to dance, and Sajid Khan performed for money at the beach to repay Kamran Khan’s debts
Recently, at the Ajanta Ellora Film Festival, Farah Khan reflected on her and Sajid Khan’s childhood and said, “Cinema kept me happy even in the worst of times. During my childhood, when things were bad at home, and parents were fighting, they were separating. The only time I got happiness was when I went to a movie theatre, sat for three hours, and we saw either a Manmohan Desai movie or a Nasir Hussain movie. We used to watch the potboilers at that time. That kept us happy.”
Farah Khan further added, “I don’t think anyone knows my father’s name, because he used to make B-grade movies with Dara Singh, and they used to be great fun. They were all like Robin Hood Comes to Bombay, Tarzan Comes to Bombay… Dara Singh is roaming around in Tarzan’s kachchha all over Bombay city… Then, the usual happened. He put all his money into one movie, including the house, and it was a washout, and with that, everything went. Then, for the next 13-14 years, my father didn’t work. He didn’t leave the house, and times were very, very bad.”
In an earlier interview with journalist Karan Thapar, Farah Khan said that her father died with only Rs 30 in his pocket. “I was a spoilt brat before that, and would get whatever I wanted and then suddenly everything changed… Only the house remained, and everything else went… The cars, my mom’s jewellery, the gramophone—everything. Finally, we were left with an empty house, two sofas, and a fan. We even rented out the drawing room for a few hours. People would come, organize a kitty party, play cards in the room, give us some money in return, and leave. That’s how the house was running for a couple of years.”
There was a time when Farah Khan was forced to dance, and Sajid Khan performed for money at the beach to repay Kamran Khan’s debts.
What are Farah Khan and Sajid Khan doing now?
Farah Khan and Sajid Khan are now successful in their respective fields in the film industry. Farah Khan is not only a successful choreographer but also a respected director. Sajid Khan is paving a path for himself and was last seen on Bigg Boss.