Video: Saif Ali Khan Walks Down Memory Lane, Recalls Playing Cricket With Father Tiger Pataudi As A Kid

Kunal Kemmu says mom-in-law Sharmila Tagore didn’t make eye contact with him for ‘the longest time’, Saif Ali Khan complimented his biceps

Actor Kunal Kemmu said that he was rather intimidated in his first meeting with in-laws Sharmila Tagore and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. In an interview, Kunal looked back on his love story with wife Soha Ali Khan, and also reflected on his first-ever interaction with her brother, Saif Ali Khan. He said that Saif’s biggest takeaway from their meeting was that he, Kunal, had ‘good biceps’.

Kunal appeared on Raj Shamani’s podcast, where he said that he was watching one of Soha’s films, when he visualised her as his future girlfriend, but thought that she was ‘way out of (his) league’. Asked how his first meetings with Soha’s illustrious family members went, Kunal said in Hindi, “The meetings happened organically, but I was terrified.”

Sharmila Tagore On Saif Ali Khan Doing Pataudi Biopic: Maybe Saif Can…

If the super-charismatic Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi aka Tiger, as he was fondly referred to as, had lived longer, he would have been 83 today, on January 5. Not a day goes by when wife Sharmila Tagore doesn’t miss him. In an earlier interaction, Sharmila ji spoke of the possibilities of a biopic on Tiger Pataudi. Yes, it must be made.

“Well, it will depend on who the captains of the ship are – the producers and director,” Sharmila Tagore had said. “It is a good story, I think, with all the twists and turns in his life…. his father’s death, losing his eye after which his average came down from 60 to 30. To receive such a blow at such a young age…. I don’t think anyone else has been able to make those adjustments and that kind of an impact with one eye. He not only batted but also fielded after the eye accident.”

Saif Ali Khan on his legendary father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, “If he had played today, the media would have loved him”

Saif Ali Khan is not keen to discuss his very private feelings on his father, the iconic
cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, whose birth anniversary falls today on
January 5.

Saif Ali Khan on his legendary father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, “If he had played today, the media would have loved him”

After much convincing, Saif spoke on the subject. “I will say this – when a parent is gone, and you miss him for his wisdom and for what he might have contributed to you now … it’s nice to be able to watch old interview where they show who the parent was and how he thought. Something like Superman watching holograms of Jor-el after Krypton has been destroyed,” he said.

Whenever he misses his father, Saif finds himself drawn to old articles and videos on his father. “I find myself reading or watching things about Tiger from time to time when I miss him. When I was younger, you could pick up any book on cricket and flip to the index and find where the two Pataudis, my father and his father, are featured, and I would be very proud. He achieved some incredible feats with one eye (or two eyes for that matter!).”

Unseen photo of young Saif Ali Khan with family

“I think Saif Ali Khan Is Temperamentally Closest To Me,” Sharmila Tagore On Family and Her Legacy

Sharmila Tagore is like a force of nature. You can’t take your eyes off her, even at the age of 78. In her latest film, Gulmohar, she plays a matriarch who has secrets of her own. The film has an old-world charm to it, and Sharmila’s presence lends it a certain gravitas. Talking to her, you feel like you’re talking to your grandmother and also to your college bestie. She’s so alive, so in with the times, and is a font of nostalgia as well. You want to keep talking to her and listening to her stories forever. She takes you back into a bygone era when people were more gentle and time flowed at a less hurried pace. In a heart-to-heart interview, she talks about everything, about being related to Rabindranath Tagore, working with Satyajit Ray and Uttam Kumar to not play by the rules and yet reign in Hindi cinema. Excerpts:

Did you know Saif Ali Khan’s Pataudi family has an inter-relation with great Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib?

Here’s all you need to know about the royal Pataudi family.

An ancestry of blue blood, merged with litterateurs and creativity runs in Bollywood. Saif Ali Khan, who hails from a royal family, also has an inter-relation to famed poet Mirza Ghalib, while his mother Sharmila Tagore comes from the bloodline of celebrated Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. True royalty flows through Bollywood!

Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi
The last ruling Nawab of the Pataudi family, Iftikhar Ali Khan, was born to Nawab Muhammad Ibrahim Ali Khan of Pataudi and his wife Shahar Bano Begum. He was the only Test cricketer to have played for India and England. Iftikhar Ali Khan represented the England team in test matches in 1932 and 1943, while he captained the Indian cricket team in 1946.

In 1939, Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan married Nawab Begum Sajida Sultan, the daughter of the Nawab of Bhopal. They had four children, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Qudsia Sultan, Saleha Sultan and Sabiha Sultan.