Sara Ali Khan is an Indian actress who starred in her first movie in 2018. So far, she has been nothing but successful, so it will be interesting to see what will come of her career in Bollywood. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Sara Ali Khan:
1. Bollywood Star
It is important to note that Khan is a Bollywood star. Sometimes, Bollywood is used as a term for the entire Indian film industry. However, this is somewhat misleading because Bollywood means the Hindi film industry centered on Mumbai, which might be better-known to English speakers under its previous name of Bombay. Said film industry is the biggest of the segments that make up the Indian film industry, but there are others such as the Tamil and the Telugu film industries, which are centered on other cities.
2. Comes From an Elite Background
Khan comes from an elite background. For instance, both her father Saif Ali Khan and her mother Amrita Singh are actors of note in the Indian film industry. Furthermore, Khan’s grandparents are notable figures as well. On her father’s side, her grandfather was a cricket player while her grandmother is an actress. Meanwhile, on her mother’s side, her grandfather was a general while her grandmother was a socialite who became notorious because of her connections with the highest circles of Indian politics in the 1970s.
3. Comes From a Princely Background
In fact, it is interesting to note that Khan is a member of a princely dynasty. For those who are curious, princely dynasties refer to the ruling families of the princely states, which were semi-sovereign vassal states of the British Raj. In Khan’s case, she is a member of the Pataudi family that once ruled a small princely state of the same name situated in the Delhi Territory. Said family held the title of nawab, which saw use under the Mughal Empire and was carried over to the British Raj.
4. Is Of Bengali, Pathan, and Punjabi Descent
One of the most interesting factors about India is the sheer number of ethnic groups that call the place home. Of course, said ethnic groups have been interacting with one another for centuries and centuries, meaning that it isn’t uncommon for Indians to be descended from more than one of them. In Khan’s case, she is of Bengali, Pathan, and Punjabi descent for the most part. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Bengalis and the Punjabi are most associated with the regions of Bengal and Punjab, while Pathan is another name for the Pashtuns.
5. Inspired By Aishwarya Rai
Khan became interested in pursuing a career as an actress when she was still a child. To be exact, what happened was that Khan saw Aishwarya Rai perform on the stage in the United States, which impressed her so much that she decided that was what she wanted to do as well. For a time, Khan seemed to have been more focused on academics at Columbia University, but considering her recent efforts, it seems safe to say that she has chosen to follow through with her childhood ambition.
6. Diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
When Khan was a teenager, she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, which is a collection of symptoms caused by elevated levels of male hormones in females. Some examples of those symptoms include acne, heavy periods, irregular periods, excess hair, and problems with becoming pregnant. Unfortunately, there is no simple and straightforward cure for polycystic ovary syndrome. Instead, it has to be managed using lifestyle changes as well as other methods, which is why Khan had to combat weight gain by following a strict schedule with daily workouts.
7. First Movie Was Kedarnath
In 2018, Khan had her film debut with Kedarnath. For those who are curious, Kedarnath was an inter-faith romance in which Khan played the part of a Hindu girl from a well-off background attracted to a Muslim boy from a not so well-off background. Due to these circumstances, the two characters encountered serious obstacles to their love in the form of their different backgrounds as well as their respective families’ opposition to their romantic choices. The movie’s climax saw the couple struggling to survive the Uttarakhand floods that happened in 2013, which had a devastating impact on the entire region.
8. Got Accused of Promoting Love Jihad
Khan and the rest of the people involved with making Kedarnath got accused of promoting love jihad by priests and politicians in the state of Uttarakhand. For people who are unfamiliar with the term, love jihad refers to a supposed practice in which Muslim men would convince non-Muslim women to convert to Islam by pretending to fall in love with them, which is talked about in certain circles in India. Interested individuals might find the concept to be ridiculous, but it has been taken seriously that there have been multiple official and unofficial investigations of such claims, which have consistently found them to be nothing but nonsense. For that matter, it should be mentioned that Kedarnath was banned in the state of Uttarakhand.
9. Second Movie Was Simmba
So far, Khan has been in one other movie that has been released, which would be Simmba. In short, it follows a corrupt police officer who is forced onto a more righteous path when his loved ones become the victims of a tragedy. It is interesting to note that Khan winded up in the courts because she started filming for Simmba when the filming for Kedarnath was interrupted for a time, with the result that she agreed to divide up her available time between the two movies.
10. Has a Couple of Movies Coming Out in 2020
Currently, Khan has a couple of movies that are expected to come out in 2020. One is a still unnamed romance directed by Imtiaz Ali, which is already in post-production. The other is a comedy called Coolie No. 1 that is based on an earlier film of the same name that came out in 1995, which in turn, was already a Hindi remake of a Tamil predecessor.
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