Recalling the one piece of advice Sharmila Tagore gave her when she entered Bollywood, Soha Ali Khan said that her mother initially disapproved of her marrying an actor.
Actors Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmu celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last month, but the Rang De Basanti star recently revealed that her mother, legendary Bollywood star Sharmila Tagore, was initially against the idea of Soha marrying an actor. Interestingly, while Tagore herself married outside the film industry — tying the knot with veteran Indian cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi — Soha’s elder brother Saif Ali Khan married actors both times and his first marriage, to Amrita Singh, ended in a bitter divorce. He later married actor Kareena Kapoor.
Recalling the one piece of advice her mother gave when she entered Bollywood, which she ultimately disregarded, Soha shared during an appearance on The Quizzitok Podcast, “She said, ‘Do whatever you want, but never marry an actor.’ She said I would be hugely complicating my life because they (actors) have big egos and mood swings, not only owing to their own success but to others’ success too. Actors are sensitive. So, as a partner to an actor, one has to be a certain way and I think I am that.”
When humorously asked if her father, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, ever experienced mood swings, Soha laughed and responded, “As their 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥, your relationship with a person would be different from the one their husband or wife has with them. Often, we are far better behaved with our 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren than we are with our spouses. So, I think I got the best of him. He was as cool as a cucumber. I never heard him raise his voice in my entire life. He was firm and strict but he never got angry with us, unlike my mother.”
Opening up about her mother’s parenting style, Soha said, “She had a few sensitive moments. I, however, am a lot like my father. It takes a lot to push me over the edge. Somehow, Kunal just knows exactly which buttons to press. He is the only one who infuriates me, nobody else; not even my seven-year-old daughter. Maybe there is some truth to this acting business. You wear your emotions on your sleeve and share your stress with the world. He is very happy afterwards, but all of us are left quaking in the aftermath of his mood swings.”
