Farah Khan is an Indian film actress, producer, director and a choreographer. She was born on January 9, 1965 in Mumbai, India. She is the daughter of Menaka, sister of screenwriter and actress,
Honey Irani
and
Daisy Irani
. She is also the sister of film actor and comedian
Sajid Khan
and the cousin of film personalities
Zoya Akhtar
and
Farhan Akhtar
. Farah was married to
Shirish Kunder
, a film writer, producer, director, composer and the editor of her directorial film
Main Hoon Na
in 2004. The two have worked together in films like Jaan-E-Mann,
Tees Maar Khan
and
Om Shanti Om
. She gave birth to triplets, composing of one boy and two girls in year 2008.
She studied Sociology in Mumbai’s St. Xavier College. During this time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller was being telecasted. Farah, though she had not tried dancing before, got inspired and became her vocation. Basically, she just learned how to dance by herself and started her own dance group. She took over to choreographer
Saroj Khan
, when he walked out of the sports drama film, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar in 1992. After this, she started to choreographed dance routines for more than 100 songs in several Hindi films. Farah has worked in international projects like the 2007 romantic musical comedy film, Marigold: An Adventure in India, the 2001 film Monsoon Wedding and the 2005 Chinese film, Perhaps Love. Her choreography in Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair and Bombay Dreams gained her nominations at the Tony Awards as Best Choreographer in 2004. She already won five times at the Filmfare Awards for the same category. In year 2012, Farah has choreographed the songs Radha and Ishq Wala Love for the film Student of the Year and Jumping Jhapak in 2013.
Farah is a good friend of
Shah Rukh Khan
, whom she met during the set of the 1994 Bollywood film Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa and since then, they started to work together in several projects. Farah, soon became a director as well and her first film Main Hoon Na stars Shah Rukh Khan, produced under the banner of Red Chillies Entertainment. She was the first female director to be nominated at the Filmfare for Best Director. Her second film, Om Shanti Om also stars Shah Rukh Khan and the debutant actress,
Deepika Padukone
. This film became a top grosser of all time after it was released. In 2010, her third directorial venture Tees Maar Khan stars
Akshay Kumar
and
Katrina Kaif
. She made her acting debut inn year 2012 after doing the lead role in Bela Bhansali Sehgal’s Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi.
She also trained the famous Columbian pop star Shakira for her song Hips Don’t Lie, Bollywood version, for MTV Music Video Awards in 2006 and
Kylie Minogue
in Chiggy Wiggy for Anthony D’Souza’s Blue in 2009. In the same year, she hosted the celebrity chat show entitled Tere Mere Beach Mein, which was aired on Star Plus. She also judged reality television shows like the first and second seasons of Indian Idol, Jo Jeeta Wohi
Super Star
, Dance India Dance Li’l Masters and Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega. In 2011, Farah, along with
Hrithik Roshan
and
Vaibhavi Merchant
judged the dance reality series
Just Dance
on Star Plus. She also hosted the special series of the reality show Bigg Boss Halla Bol in 2013.
In honor of Farah’s triplets, she and her husband started the Three’s Company, a production house in India.