Early life
Saif Ali Khan was born in Aug 16, 1970, into a Muslim family of the Nawabs of Pataudi. His grandfather, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, was the Nawab of Pataudi as well as an accomplished cricketer who played for England and then for India as the captain of the team. His paternal grandmother was Sajida Sultan, Begum of Bhopaland his great-uncle was Pakistani general Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan Pataudi. His father is Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the eighth Nawab of Pataudi and a former captain of the Indian cricket team. Khan has two sisters Saba Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan. Khan's mother is Sharmila Tagore, she is a Bengali Indian film actress, head of the Indian film censorship board and a relative of the Nobel laureate - Rabindranath Tagore. His mother later converted to Islam from Hinduism after her marriage to Khan's father, and changed her name to Begum Ayesha Sultana. He spent his childhood in a Muslim atmosphere, reading the Quran, with his grandmother being the center of his religious education. Khan says that
"Religion played a major role in my upbringing."
Initially Khan studied at the Lawrence School Sanawar but later attended Lockers Park Prep School. Later, he followed in his father's footsteps by attending Winchester College, a famous independent school for boys in UK. Khan can speak his native languages of Hindi, and Bengali fluently, as well as English.
Personal life
Khan married actress Amrita Singh in October 1991. After thirteen years of marriage and two children, the couple divorced in 2004. His children live with their mother.
In 1998, Khan was charged with poaching two blackbucks in Kankani during the filming of Hum Saath Saath Hain along with co-stars Salman Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam. The charges were dropped soon after Khan was acquitted.
The tabloids have often linked him with many other Bollywood stars, but he has denied all these rumours. Khan is currently dating actress Kareena Kapoor.
On February 18, 2007, Khan was hospitalised at Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai due to experiencing chest pain while rehearsing for his performance at the Stardust Awards, to be held that night. After hospitalization, he stated he would quit smoking.
