Farah Khan's Birthday: 5 Inspirational Statements That Made Her Stand Out!

As we plunge into another year celebrating the nationally and internationally acclaimed director Farah Khan’s birthday, there is not a single time to date that she hasn’t taken us by surprise through her bold statements and activism on social media that keeps her unparalleled from others.

For nearly three decades, she has always kept us in awe as she donned every single role that was offered to her, from kicking off as a choreographer in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander to directing her first blockbuster Main Hoon Na with Shahrukh Khan. What surprised us more was when she embarked on acting in several films, including the iconic Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. In 2004, she took on the offer of judging reality TV shows and as a co-host in Bigg Boss Halla Bol alongside Salman Khan.

On Farah Khan’s birthday, we bring to you some of the stunning inspiring statements made by the ace director from a couple of her interviews.

• Farah Khan’s inspirational letter to her daughters: In the year 2018 on International Women’s Day, Farah Khan who is always considered to be vocal about gender equality in the field of filmmaking, both on-screen and backstage, wrote a heartfelt yet inspiring letter to her two daughters Anya and Diva. In the letter, she emphasized about the need to recognize the essence of feminism as they witnessed an equally feminist household. Throughout the letter, she drew us closer to her ideology through lots of phrases that carried a feminist element that showed her avidity to pass on the same to her daughters as well. Some of the instances are: “I hope that just like your mother, you never play the ‘WOMAN CARD’ — it’s not a secret trump up your sleeve to be used when the game is not going your way” and “Today I’m writing this letter to my two best friends — my queens — yes, always queens and never princesses, because queens rule! And above all, we don’t need a WOMAN’S DAY to celebrate us. We will celebrate ourselves every day!”
• I’m not a “woman” director: In an interview in 2019 with the Times of India, she claimed that the idea of someone calling her a female filmmaker is absolutely antagonistic to her. To be precise, Farah also said that she doesn’t want to be slotted as ‘the woman director’. A firm preacher of genderless jobs, she feels filmmaking is not and should not be considered a gender-specific job.
• Views on sexism and nepotism: In an interview with a spokesperson of She The People TV, when asked about her perceptions on our giant male-dominated industry and the role of women directors in it, she stated “I believe that if you want to stand up to men, you need to be on the same ground. You need to make the big budget movies." When asked about Nepotism, she said "Nepotism is a human trait. There are many who haven’t made it, and many who haven’t come from a film family, and who have made it." She also stated that the perpetual habit of the media to capture star kids has given rise to a nepotistic culture in the industry.
• Her films shun the idea of conventional gendered roles: In the same interview, she also shared how her genderless ideology was also reflected in her filmmaking. She said, “In my movies, I make sure that the woman is not there just to romance the hero. Also, you won’t see vulgarity. There will be song and dance and they will look glamorous and sexy, but it won’t be vulgar.” This shows that she very well chooses to cancel out the concept of having conventional gendered roles.
• She has been a fighter and survivor: In an interview with ">PINKVILLA in 2020, she shared an incident associated with the failure of her film Tees Maar Khan. “People did really take a lot of joy in Tees Maar Khan not doing well!” Even after a decade of a successful career as a director, she still felt then that “the film industry is a little boys club where they don’t like the idea of a little girl or a big girl coming in. That is where sexism stepped in.” In fact, during that phase, she remained isolated most of the time, losing her confidence. But she did not give up.

Therefore, even on her 58^th birthday and thereafter, one thing shall always be certain- Farah Khan shall always be regarded as our all-time favourite director. No matter how many ups and downs she has gone through, we shall always associate her journey with her famous movie dialogue- “Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost.”- Om Shanti Om.

Suggested Reading: Revisiting Farah Khan's 30 Year Long Stint As A Director And Choreographer In Bollywood