Saif Ali Khan Biography

Saif Ali Khan
Born	August 16, 1970 (age 39) New Delhi, India
Occupation	Actor, producer
Years active	1992 - present
Spouse(s)	Amrita Singh (1991 - 2004)

Saif Ali Khan (Hindi: सैफ़ अली ख़ान, Bengali: সাইফ আলি খান, pronounced [sɛf əli xɑn] born August 16, 1970 in New Delhi, India) is an Indian actor in Bollywood films. He is the son of the Nawab of Pataudi, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and the actress Sharmila Tagore. He has two sisters; actress Saba Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan. He is the heir apparent to the headships of both the royal houses of Bhopal and Pataudi.

Khan made his debut in 1992 with Parampara. He had his first major successes with the 1994 films Main Khiladi Tu Anari and Yeh Dillagi. After going through several years of decline in the 1990s, he rose into prominence with his performance in Dil Chahta Hai (2001), which marked his professional turning point.^[1] His performance in Nikhil Advani's Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) won him theFilmfare Best Supporting Actor Award, and he won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Hum Tum (2004). He then had commercial success with films like Salaam Namaste (2005) Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007) and Love Aaj Kal (2009), and starred in critically acclaimed projects such as Parineeta (2005) and Omkara (2006).^[2] These successes put him among the most successful actors in the industry.^[3] Since 2009, Khan has branched out into film production. He is the founder-owner of his production company Illuminati Films.

Saif Ali Khan was born into a Muslim Pathan family of the Nawabs of Pataudi. His paternal grandfather, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, was the Nawab of Pataudi as well as an accomplished cricketer who played for England and then for India as the captain of the team. His paternal grandmother was Sajida Sultan, Begum of Bhopal and his great-uncle was Pakistani general Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan Pataudi. His father isMansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the eighth Nawab of Pataudi and a former captain of the Indian cricket team. Khan has two sisters Saba Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan. Khan's mother is Sharmila Tagore a Bengali Indian film actress and a member of Bengal's Tagore Family. She is also the head of the Indian film censorship board and a relative of the Nobel laureate - Rabindranath Tagore. Sharmila Tagore converted to Islam fromHinduism after her marriage to Khan's father, and changed her name to Begum Ayesha Sultana. Khan spent his childhood in a Muslimatmosphere, reading the Quran, with his grandmother being the center of his religious education. Khan says that "Religion played a major role in my upbringing."^[4]

Initially Khan studied at the Lawrence School Sanawar^[5] but later attended Lockers Park Prep School. Later, he followed in his father's footsteps by attending Winchester College, a famous independent school for boys in UK. Khan can speak his native languages of Hindi, andBengali fluently, as well as English.^[6]

In 1993, he won the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for Aashiq Awara. His breakthrough role came in 1994 with Yeh Dillagi starring oppositeKajol and Akshay Kumar which was his first major hit.^[7] Khan went on to star in many films but they failed at the box office. He only had success with multi-starrer hits like Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994), Imtihaan (1995),^[8] Kachche Dhaage (1999) and Hum Saath-Saath Hain: We Stand United (1999).^[9] After some box office failures he had a hit with the film Kya Kehna (2000).^[10]

His acting career, more or less, went through a relative slump until 2001, when he was cast in Farhan Akhtar's contemporary drama Dil Chahta Hai.^[11] He received much acclaim for his role as Sameer with critic Taran Adarsh calling it his career-best performance.^[12] The success of this film firmly established Saif as one of the industry's most bankable stars.^[3]

He has since had many box office successes, starting with Nikhil Advani's drama Kal Ho Na Ho (2003), co-starring alongside Shahrukh Khanand Preity Zinta. The film, set in New York, starred Saif as Rohit, Zinta's best friend, who later realises that he loves her.^[13] The film was the second top-grossing film of the year, and Khan's performance was praised by critics. He won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award, as well as other awards in that category in other award ceremonies. Khan followed it with the leading role in Kunal Kohli's romantic comedy Hum Tum(2004), his first collaboration with Yash Raj Films. The film follows the encounters of the two main characters until they, after several years and various meetings, become friends and finally fall in love. Khan played the role of Karan Kapoor, a young cartoonist and womaniser whose relationship with Rhea Prakash, played by Rani Mukerji, changes his perception of women and life.^[14] Khan's performance was applauded by both critics and audiences. He won the Best Comedian award at the Filmfare, and was conferred the coveted National Film Award for Best Actor in 2005.^[15] Khan's next project with the Yash Raj Films production, Salaam Namaste (2005), became India's top-grossing film in the overseas market. The film, which was the first Indian film to be entirely shot in Australia, starred Khan and Preity Zinta as a contemporary cohabiting Indian couple.^[16][17] He was also noted for his performance in a negative role in Ram Gopal Verma's Ek Hasina Thi (2004) and for his role of Shekhar Rai in Pradeep Sarkar's Parineeta (2005), an adaptation of the 1914 Bengali novella, Parineeta by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.^[18]

In 2006 Khan played the protagonist in the English-language art film, Being Cyrus. His role as Cyrus got him positive reviews. In that same year, he went on to receive major acclaim for his portrayal of lago in the Indian adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello, Omkara. Rediff.comstated, "Omkara marks Saif's emergence into the very forefront of his acting peers, and we gleefully applaud".^[19] Variety film critic Derek Elley called his performance "powerhouse" and further wrote, "It's Khan's movie through and through, in a performance of rugged, contained malevolence which trades on his previous screen persona as a likable best friend as well as his stint as the manipulative outsider in 'Being Cyrus'. It's smart casting, superbly realized."^[20] For his work, Khan earned the awards for Best Actor in a negative role at the Star Screen,Filmfare, Zee Cine and IIFA Awards.^[21][22][23]

Khan next acted in Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007), co-starring alongside his mother for the second time since Aashiq Awara (1993). The film was India's official entry to the Oscars, and Khan's performance as Harshwardhan was appreciated by critics. Taran Adarsh commented, "watching him emote with amazing precision makes you realise the giant strides he has taken as an actor".^[24] He next appeared alongside Rani Mukerji in the family drama, Ta Ra Rum Pum (2007). Directed by Siddharth Anand, the film went on to become a box office success.^[25][26]

In 2008, Khan first starred in the Abbas-Mustan thriller Race, which went on to do well at the box office.^[27] This was followed by two projects produced by Yash Raj Films, Tashan and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic, both of which were not successful.^[27]

In 2009 Khan produced and starred in Love Aaj Kal. The film, directed by Imtiaz Ali, was a critical and commercial success.^[