It's Kiran Rao's birthday on November 7. As the filmmaker turns a year older today, we look at her love story with superstar husband Aamir Khan, in pictures.
Updated On: 2020-11-07 08:15 AM IST
Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao have been married for 15 years now. Though their love story is one that is less spoken about, we take you down memory lane into Aamir and Kiran's life. (All photos/Aamir Khan's Instagram account, AFP and mid-day archives)
Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao met on the sets of Ashutosh Gowariker's Lagaan, which released in 2001. Kiran Rao was one of the film's assistant directors, while Aamir played the lead actor in the film. Kiran was seeing someone while Lagaan's shooting was on.
She again met Aamir Khan briefly with his family during Dil Chahta Hai. By 2003, Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta had divorced. While seeing someone else, Kiran and the actor connected on the set of an ad commercial that he was doing with Ashutosh Gowariker that Rao was assisting on. They hung out a lot together and became 3 am friends.
They lived together for a year and a half before tying the knot in December 2005. Talking about Kiran Rao, Aamir Khan had once told mid-day, "Kiran worked as one of the ADs on Lagaan. But at that point, we were not romantically involved at all. We didn't even share a very close friendship. We actually became friends much later. It was after Reena and I went through our separation and divorce; I met with Kiran after that."
"We first became friends and then our relationship grew. So that was the period that I started seeing her. And eventually, I felt that there is someone who I have met and really value and we share something, which we would like to turn into more permanent. That was when we decided to get married... I feel very lucky to have found Kiran," said Aamir Khan, who was earlier married to Reena Dutta for 16 years.
Aamir Khan's ex-wife Reena Dutta was the executive producer of Lagaan, and that's how Kiran met her. Kiran Rao had confessed that her impression of Reena then was she was straightforward, warm and empathetic. "She always had time to hear us out and was a team player," said Kiran. The duo, as can be seen in the picture, share a warm friendship with each other.
Talking about Aamir Khan and his ex-wife Reena Dutta, the duo were married for 16 years. "She and I knew each other from the time she was 18 and I was 20. So we kind of grew up together. It (divorce) was difficult not just for me but for Reena as well and both our families. And, of course, for the children too," said Khan, who has two children from his first marriage - son Junaid and daughter Ira.
In picture: Junaid and Ira with their mother Reena Dutta.
Reena is someone Aamir Khan holds in high regard. "I really value all the years I had the opportunity to share with her. I think sometimes things go wrong. They are not in our control. But I know that I can always depend on her as a person, and she knows that she can always depend on me at any time. She is a very important part of my life, and will always me," said Khan.
In picture: Kiran Rao, Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta.
In 2009, Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao had to face the unthinkable when the latter suffered a miscarriage. "I have bad news folks. Kiran and I lost our baby. Despite our best efforts we were unable to avert a miscarriage. The last two months have been a struggle for us and that is one of the reasons I was absent from the blog in more ways than one. I need time to heal. I will be away for a while," Aamir posted on his blog aamirkhan.com. According to reports, she was three months pregnant at the time.
In 2011, Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao became proud parents of a baby boy on December 1. The superstar's decorous declaration of his surrogate parenthood imbued an all-new dimension to the concept of non-traditional motherhood.
The baby, who has been named Azad Rao Khan, was born through IVF - surrogacy. Announcing the news, Aamir shared a letter, which stated, "It gives us the greatest joy to share with you the good news of the birth of our baby boy. This baby is especially dear to us because he was born to us after a long wait and some difficulty. Due to medical complications, we were advised to have a baby through IVF - surrogacy and we feel very grateful to the Almighty that everything has gone well. We are humbled by the greatness of God, the miracles of science, and the kindness and love of our families and friends in being there for us while respecting our privacy."
Kiran Rao is a hands-on mother. "Once in a while I do try and give her a break but she brushes it aside," said Aamir Khan, who surely is a doting dad. When his kids Junaid and Ira (from his first wife) were growing up he wasn't able to spend time with them due to his film career. But now the 55-year-old makes it a point to spend as much time as possible with his son Azad Rao Khan.
Kiran Rao shares a great bond with Aamir Khan's son Junaid as well as daughter Ira Khan. "Reena is just wonderful and she has just done such a great job with these kids. They are super kids. I lucked out. I got Aamir and I got a great package deal with this superfamily," Kiran was quoted once saying on national television.
Kiran Rao revealed when she first met Junaid and Ira, "they were quite young". "Ira was a little girl and we became friends instantly. They are very intelligent kids, very perceptive and they quite instinctively knew that I was a friend. That I was going to come into their life, more in that capacity... I think I am very lucky. Even if we had not had Azad, I would have felt really complete because of Junaid and Ira," said Kiran.
If you are an Aamir Khan fan, you would agree with us that the superstar has undergone a 'transformation' from being a reserved person to more open now. Admitting to the same, Aamir attributed the change to his wife Kiran Rao.
