Imran Khan, who made a splash with his debut film "Jaane Tu... Yaa Jaane Na" in 2008 and gradually faded away from showbiz headlines, hit the national centrestage on Thursday when Mumbai Police issued him a notice
NEW DELHI — Imran Khan, who made a splash with his debut film "Jaane Tu... Yaa Jaane Na" in 2008 and gradually faded away from showbiz headlines, hit the national centrestage on Thursday when Mumbai Police issued him a notice directing him to leave India by October 28.
The actor, an American citizen by birth and almost Bollywood royalty as the grandson of legendary filmmaker Nasir Hussain, was charged with allegedly violating provisions of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, a decision his lawyer said will be challenged in the Bombay High Court.
Five days ago, on October 10, video clips and photographs of a smiling Imran being detained during a protest at August Kranti Maidan to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar went viral across all social media platforms.
"Apparently, I am going for a drive," Imran said in an Instagram post along with a photograph of himself in the police van, his hand held aloft in a peace sign.
The actor, who has an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card, was with his partner Lekha Washington and cousin Zayn Marie Khan at the time.
The 43-year-old was born in the US to Anil Pal, a software engineer, and psychologist Nuzhat Khan, daughter of the man behind blockbusters such as "Dil Deke Dekho", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Caravan".
His mother is Aamir Khan's first cousin.
Imran shifted to Mumbai after his parents separated. He studied at Bombay Scottish School in Mumbai and Blue Mountain School in Coonoor and in Gurukul, a school in Ooty. He then moved to Sunnyvale, California, to be with his father for higher education.
In interviews at the time of his debut, Imran said he took up his mother's last name as he mostly grew up in India with her and stepfather Raj Zutshi.
Though Imran has maintained a relatively low social media profile for a Bollywood actor -- he has an impressive 1.2 million followers on Instagram -- he spoke up after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest in June-July and then again during the ongoing agitation over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He participated in both.
"Critique of a political official is not a critique of a country... No politician is the country. The people, at any point, who stand up are citizens. They are the country as much as any individual politician," he said in an interview with YouTube channel Main Hoon Yuva about why he joined the protests.
"If you outnumber that politician by the laws of democracy, you are more of the country than that one politician. So, we have to also separate this idea. The idea that you have to defend your love for the country," he said.
In the same interview, the actor said democracy cannot thrive when people are afraid.
“I believe that any structure of authority should be open to questioning. It must be called upon to justify its power and its authority. And if it cannot justify its authority, then it should be broken down and altered, and replaced by something that is more just,” he said.
Imran has struggled with his movie career, eventually leaving the industry and been quite candid about it.
In a 2024 interview with Vogue India, the actor said he fell into depression after leaving Bollywood. He said he left because he "simply couldn’t be bothered to invest the time, energy and effort required to stay in this profession".
He initially wanted to become a film director and joined the Los Angeles branch of New York Film Academy. He shifted to Mumbai and trained under Kishore Namit Kapoor's acting institute.
In the earlier years, he played Aamir's younger version in "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak" and "Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar" before making his hit debut. The success of the Abbas Tyrewala-directed "Jaane Tu..." had people pegging him as the next big star in Bollywood alongside Ranbir Kapoor who had made his debut the year earlier with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Saawariya".
But that was not to be.
Over the next few years, Imran was cast in chocolate boy heroes in successive films such as "I Hate Luv Storys", "Break Ke Baad", "Mere Brother Ki Dulhan" and "Ekk Main Aur Ek Tu". At best, they were modest hits.
He did try and break the mould, experimenting in the action genre with "Kidnap" and "Luck". Both failed. In 2011, he delivered the second big hit of his career with "Delhi Belly", an English language dark comedy that became a cult hit with its irreverent humour, profanity-laced dialogues and songs, and its unapologetic take on urban life.
Around the same time, Imran married his childhood sweetheart Avantika Malik and the couple welcomed daughter Imara in 2014.
The next few years saw Imran feature in a succession of flops -- "Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola", "Once Upon ay Time in Mumbaai Dobaara!", "Gori Tere Pyaar Mein" and "Katti Batti".
Imran then decided to take a break from acting, which turned out to be a decade-long absence from the industry as his personal life floundered. He and Avantika eventually divorced and now share custody of their daughter.
He made his comeback to the movies with a guest role in Vir Das-directed comedy "Happy Patel: Khatarnaak Jasoos".
In an interview with PTI in January this year, Imran spoke about why he decided to return to the movies after a decade.
"In late 2023, when I started reemerging from my hibernation, and connecting with the world, people said, 'hey, this guy is alive', and started reaching out and sending me stuff. The thing is that my approach, desire at this point is very different from what it was back then," he said.
"I'm not seeking to build myself into a very big star, to be the biggest star, to be in the top three, to be on the list of most highly paid people. Unless I love the film and really want to make it, I won't because the rest of it is a metric for the rest of the world, but it's not a relevant metric for me,” he said.