6 SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT IMRAN KHAN
2008’s Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, a coming of age romantic comedy marked the debut of Imran Khan into Bollywood. His chocolate boy looks and portrayal of Jai Singh Rathore won him tons of accolades along with the Best Male Debut award at the 54th Filmfare Awards.
Adored for both his boy-next-door appeal and impressive acting skills, Imran still continues to woo the audiences. But there's more to him than being the light-eyed boy of Bollywood. Over the years, Imran has also taken a keen interest in various social issues and causes.
Here are a few surprisingly lesser known facts about our favourite, Imran Khan.
A Journey To Mars With Johnnie Walker
Having studied film-making, Imran always wanted to don a director’s hat apart from honing his acting skills. After being absent from the silver screen for the past three years, he is now back with his first directorial venture. The film, titled Mission Mars: Keep Walking India has also been written by Imran and produced by Johnnie Walker- The Journey and Dharma 2.0. It's full of surprises just like the man himself!
Watch the short film, inspired from India's first interplanetary mission Mangalyaan, below.
The Good Samaritan
In 2011, Imran and his brother-in-law opposed the Maharashtra state government's new law which raised the drinking age to 25 by filing a Public-Interest Litigation (PIL) against it. Around June of 2011, the Maharashtra State Govt. announced that the legal drinking age was to be raised to 25, as part of their alcohol de-addiction policy. Imran strongly believed that it was a violation of civil liberties and that would in turn, lead to an increase in risky drinking behaviour and criminal activities like bootlegging and corruption.
Aww-dorable!
Did you know that at one time, Imran had around twelve pets at his Pali Hill residence? Currently, we are all ‘heart-eyes’ for his cat Sigmund! He strongly advocates the adoption of pets and surely leads by example. If Imran ever comes across any injured, stray or helpless animal, he doesn’t bat an eyelid before going out of his way to help. If that’s not inspiring, we don’t know what is!
Imran’s Car-nama
Amongst his friends and family, Imran is known to be a car-fanatic. He has amazing knowledge about different kinds of wheels and is at times, even requested by brands to test drive their cars before they launch. He enjoys going on long drives, reading up about cars and does it out of utmost passion and love. No wonder the brands love him as much as we do!
A Star Is Born
Just like his Mamu Aamir Khan, Imran started off young by appearing as a child actor in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander. He played the role of young Aamir in both the super-hit movies, directed by his uncle Mansoor Khan. He’s most remembered for making hearts melt with his cute performance in Roothke Humse Kabhi Jab Chale Jaoge Tum from JJWS.
From USA, With Love
Not many know that Imran’s actual surname is Pal and not Khan. An American citizen by birth, Imran uses his maternal surname. Following a brief schooling stint in India, he returned to America to study in Fremont High School in California where he stayed with his father. Upon graduation, he went on to pursue a degree in filmmaking at the Los Angeles branch of New York Film Academy.
