Aamir Khan

By Sumita Chakraborty

There is an old saying in glitzy Tinsel Town: “There is no smoke without a fire.” Well, we, at TheGlitz say, don’t believe it! In the dazzling world of neon lights and ‘light, camera, action’, the grey gossip clouds of smoke billow bigger than any inferno balls of bloody orange fire. And guess what? …Most of the times, what is written or told is actually based on a shred of truth. It could be a whisper from somebody on the sets, a comment from a catty heroine about another or a leaked message from one superstar actor about his rival… of course, if found out, they’d vociferously scream themselves hoarse and debunk it. Like someone once told me, “I just told you as a friend and you printed it.” …And I had never met her even once.

Aamir Khan’s Big News 20 years back – Stardust, September 2005

But that sliver of truth is permanently enmeshed in the giant ball of smoke ‘n’ goss. Way back, one of India’s biggest and best film magazines, Stardust (I, had the privilege of being the Editor of this amazing magazine, years later) had a shocking “breaking” cover story which shook the film industry to the core. The headline read: “Exclusive from London – 2 year old Jaan! The child Aamir Khan abandoned”.

At that time, the “cute as a button” Aamir Khan, fresh out of the super success of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Lagaan and so many other hit films, was heralded as the “squeaky clean” superstar Khan of Tinsel Town. …Squeaky clean, simply because there wasn’t too much fodder for gossip about him. He was already married to his sweetheart Reena – in fact, they had hidden the marriage for a year until the media got a whiff of their captivating love story.

But still, the cherubic-faced actor managed to captivate the audience and was crowned as the darling of the Khan brigade. Indeed, like his hit song, ‘Papa Kehta Hain Bada naam Karega‘, he too seemed to be walking the right path and was making a huge name for himself as an actor who was righteous, fought for meaningful, social endeavours and didn’t get into any controversies, unlike the super-hot ‘badass’ of the industry, Salman Khan. But that was just the tip of the iceberg, what lay beneath the superficial was shocking!

The pioneer of “breaking news publishing” in India, Mr Nari Hira who tapped on the film goer’s insatiable appetite for star gossip, helmed Stardust magazine that broke the news that Aamir Khan had allegedly fathered a child with Jessica Hines, the British journalist who had come all the way to India to write producer Yash Chopra’s biography. Stardust had, in fact, gone to London and met Jessica and her two-year-old son Jaan. In fact, they had even clicked the baby’s picture… some felt the baby looked the spitting image of Aamir.

This “controversial breaking news” caused a vitriolic tsunami that twisted ‘n’ turned the innards of Bollywood. People whispered untold stories of Aamir… some true, many fabricated… and the grapevine went on an overdrive. Some media outlets recently reported that allegedly despite Aamir’s request to terminate the pregnancy, Jessica chose to carry on with her pregnancy. However, this was never formally verified.

Bollywood’s Mr Perfectionist Aamir consistently denied it and later, Jessica too retracted her words. A super irate Aamir then banned Stardust and called the news, “False and fabricated”. Hmm… Not yet done, there were attempts to ban the film magazine by many in the industry. But the lion-hearted ‘Stardust’ magazine refused to buckle down despite immense pressure from many quarters from Bollywood’s biggest names.

It was indeed sensational.

But since, in the glamour world, there are no permanent friends or enemies. Many years later, Aamir buried the hatchet with Stardust and even graced its cover with an exclusive interview from him.

Cut to 2025: The Faissal Story

Just a couple of days ago, Faissal Khan, Aamir’s estranged brother, at an exclusive podcast made an explosive revelation that he had severed all ties with his family. He said, “When I was angry with my family, I wrote a letter. They used to tell me to get married; there was a lot of pressure. I wrote a letter, in which I wrote to every family member, ‘What are you?’ Nikhat, my sister, got married three times. Aamir was married, got divorced from Reena, and then he had a relationship with Jessica Hines, with whom he also has an illegitimate child, out of wedlock. So I wrote all that in the letter. He was living with Kiran at that time.” Faissal then dared Aamir to refute this and says, “I can prove it!”

The Cat Was Out Of The Bag

After years of sweeping the dust under the carpet, that “news” finally got closure and all those who pooh-poohed the Stardust exclusive as, “yellow journalism, sensationalism or an article with no smoke, no fire, sat up and took close note.

Today at 60, of course, Aamir has moved to another chapter. His marriage with Kiran is over and he has introduced his current girlfriend Gouri Pratt on his birthday at a media event.

Jessica, today, is an illustrious journalist and autobiographer. Jaan, her son, has become big – he must be 22 – and they live in London.

After Faissal Khan’s sensational and explosive podcast, Aamir and his entire family have now issued an official statement, calling Faissal’s allegations ‘hurtful and misleading’, making it clear they won’t stay silent as the controversy grows.

The statement read, “We are distressed by Faissal’s hurtful and misleading portrayal of his mother Zeenat Tahir Husain, his sister Nikhat Hegde, and his brother Aamir. As this is not the first time he has misrepresented these events, we feel it necessary to clarify our intentions and reaffirm our solidarity as a family.”

Further, it read, “It is important to share that every choice regarding Faissal has been taken collectively as a family, in consultation with multiple medical professionals, and has been based on love, compassion, and a desire to support his emotional and psychological wellbeing. For this reason, we have refrained from publicly discussing the details of a painful and difficult period for our family.”

“We request the media for empathy, and to refrain from turning a private matter into salacious, inflammatory and hurtful gossip,” the statement concluded.

The statement included the names of family Members: Reena Datta, Junaid Khan, Ira Khan, Farhat Datta, Rajiv Datta, Kiran Rao, Santosh Hegde, Seher Hegde, Mansoor Khan, Nuzhat Khan, Imran Khan, Tina Fonseca, Zayn Marie Khan, Pablo Khan.