Imran Khan

Biography

Khan is a surname that seems to be synonymous with superstardom in tinsel town and of course Imran is destined for the same. Being the nephew of Aamir Khan meant exposure to films at a very early age and in fact he has even played the role of young Aamir in the film 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak' and 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander'.

Imran is the son of Nuzhat Khan and Anil Pal, who works as a senior manager at Yahoo in Silicon Valley. Anil was a classmate of director Mansoor Khan, Nuzhat's brother, at IIT Bombay. Anil and Nuzhat married but divorced when Imran was one and half years old. He grew up with the surname Khan as his mother brought him up. Before joining the film industry however, he lived with his father to finish high school in California and then got trained in film making at New York. His paternal grandmother is British while his grandfather is Bengali. He is also the nephew of actor Aamir Khan, director Mansoor Khan and the grandson of Nasir Hussain who was a noted director and producer.

Imran made appearances as a child artist in his uncle Aamir's films Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander (1992). Both times he played the role of a young Aamir Khan. He aspired to be a director, as that was his original plan before he entered Bollywood as an actor.

He made his debut as a lead actor in the 2008 film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, which was produced by his uncle Aamir Khan and co-starred Genelia D'Souza. The film received excellent reviews from the critics and was quite successful at the box office. Imran's performance in the film was especially appreciated by the critics and the audience

However, while studying in the US, Imran actually had planned on becoming a director and had even completed a film course for the same in New York. But when director Abbas Tyrewala narrated to him the character of Jai in 'Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na', Imran was overwhelmed by how similar the character was to his own personality and he knew he had to act in the film.

Going by the phenomenal success of the film, audiences too are thrilled that he took the plunge into acting and since then, there truly has been no looking back. The young actor, however, has not tasted much success after his first film. To give him credit, the actor has dared to experiment with his roles, as his second release, Sanjay Gadhvi's 'Kidnap', had him playing a role which had a lot of grey shades. The actor did a fine job, but was handicapped b y a poor script and some equally poor direction. His next release was 'Luck', which also failed to click at the box office. In the meantime, the actor had been roped into 'Delhi Belly', a film being produced by his uncle, Aamir. The film is complete and is in post production. Knowing Aamir, he will ensure that it gets the best possible release. The actor's latest release, ''I Hate Luv Storys, directed by Punit Malhotra, had him playing a more urbane, character, one that his fans loved. Coming up for release next will be 'Break Ke Baad', where he is cast opposite Deepika Padukone.

Despite two flops out of four releases, Imran's popularity has hardly taken a beating. Along with Ranbir Kapoor, he is still being looked on as the next generation superstar. Armed with devilish good looks, a very endearing screen presence and a unique style of acting, he may is quite well set to take over from the older Khan brigade, that too at a time when the industry is desperately searching for a younger breed of actors. The legacy lives on.

Imran is currently dating Avantika Malik, the ex-girlfriend of Ranbir Kapoor.