
Zayed Khan Reveals Family's Darkest Days: ‘Sold Cars, Took Autos'
Last Updated:
Zayed Khan recently opened up about his family's difficult period following a fire accident on his father Sanjay Khan's set during the Tipu Sultan shoot.
Zayed Khan, the charming actor who stole hearts in Main Hoon Na, has been relatively low-key in recent years. However, the actor has now opened up about his journey, sharing the highs and lows of his career and personal life. Born to director Sanjay Khan, Zayed recalled the tough times his family endured, including a particularly challenging period after his father suffered a fire accident while filming Tipu Sultan.
Despite being the son of a well-known filmmaker, Zayed Khan revealed the harsh realities of his family's past struggles, sharing a painful memory from his past about a fire accident on his father, Sanjay Khan's, film set. The fire badly injured Sanjay and caused huge emotional and financial problems for the family. Zayed spoke openly about this difficult time, admitting it was a huge challenge for them to get through.
In an interview with Siddharth Kanan, he recalled, 'My dad had a fire accident at that time, during Tipu Sultan. There was a lot of distress at home, and the way I saw my mother and sisters during that period really hurt me deeply. The family was extremely financially burdened at that time. A lot of people had passed away in that fire, and there was no insurance at the time."
'I saw a lot of pain in my mother and sisters and how they took up the mantle to support my father, like take autos, sell cars and get into taxis — yes. Our house was mortgaged, and many other things," he added.
The 44-year-old actor went on to say, 'You truly see who your friends are during times like that. We got better cars again once we came out of the situation."
Zayed Khan further shared that during tough times, he even suggested joining a boarding school to ease the financial burden on his family, knowing his mother was already caring for many. But the moment that stood out was when he proudly handed over his first paycheck from his debut film to his mother, feeling an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment.
First Published:

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


India Today
2 days ago
- India Today
Channapatna, barbies and now labubu: What our dolls say about us
When I was seven, my best friend wasn't human. She had no eyebrows, a bobbled head, and wore a hand-stitched lehenga made from an old dupatta. Every Sunday, I'd gather all my dolls-Channapatna wooden ones with clacking limbs, a bald plastic baby from Chandni Chowk, and that one prized Barbie knockoff-and host elaborate tea parties. My mother's steel katoris doubled as cups, Parle-Gs became biscuits, and the dolls sat in perfect formation, waiting for gossip and imaginary chai. We didn't have Pinterest-perfect dollhouses or curated Instagram shelves. Our dolls lived in shoeboxes. They travelled in schoolbags. They wore mismatched earrings made from fevicol and sequins. Most importantly, they were ours-silent witnesses to our dreams, dramas, and the days we wished we were to 2025-and things have gotten... kids and increasingly, young adults-aren't playing with dolls. They're collecting them. Enter Labubu: a bug-eyed, snaggle-toothed, slightly creepy creature with the cult appeal of a K-pop idol and the resale value of a Supreme hoodie. Born in the art labs of Hong Kong and sold through limited-edition "blind boxes," Labubu isn't made for tea parties. He's made for shelfies, unboxings, and envy-soaked Instagram Reels. Forget pink ball gowns and tiaras-Labubu wears skull-hoodies, devil horns, and an expression that says "I bite." And yet, Gen Z has embraced him like a totem. He's strange, edgy, and oddly adorable in a voodoo-doll-meets-mushroom-spirit sort of way. The shift is stark: from dolls that mimicked real life to dolls that reflect a surreal inner world. If our dolls were stand-ins for the people we aspired to become, Labubu is more like a plushy moodboard-part monster, part meme, part misunderstood alter happened to innocence? To hand-lathe toys and monsoon tea parties? Maybe nothing. Maybe, just like us, our dolls grew up-and got CLICK-CLACK OF WOODEN ANKLETS CHILDHOOD IN CHANNAPATNA Long before plastic turned playrooms neon-pink, Indian childhoods rang with the woody clatter of Channapatna dolls. In Karnataka's 'Gombegala Ooru' (Toy Town), artisans still spin hale-wood on hand-lathes, rubbing sticks of vegetable lac until the grain gleams like honey. The craft—patronised by Tipu Sultan in the late-18th century and protected today by a Geographical Indication tag—has survived wars, cheap imports and, lately, algorithmic 1980s and early-'90s kids, a Channapatna doll was more than a souvenir; it was the guest of honour at every bed-sheet tea-party. Fabric scraps became sarees, bindis were punched from notebook labels, and the doll sat primly while we poured imaginary chai from a plastic Milton flask. Play was slow, tactile and, in hindsight, wonderfully analog."When you dress a wooden doll, you're putting a story on a blank slate," recalls 52-year-old Bengaluru homemaker Meera K., who still keeps her lacquered couple in a glass case. Yet even in Toy Town, change was brewing. A 2024 field survey found only 1,500 full-time artisans left-and most of their children dream of coding bootcamps, not chisels. ENTER BARBIE: PINK PLASTIC & ASPIRATIONAL PLAY In March 1986, Barbie sashayed into Indian toy stores-initially an import for NRIs returning from the Gulf, soon a must-have at every kiddie birthday. Mattel localised fast: by 1992 we had "Navratri Barbie" in ghagra-choli, and later Katrina-Kaif-endorsed Bollywood 2023 Barbie film super-charged that nostalgia. The movie grossed ?1.44 lakh crore globally, spawned 100+ brand tie-ups, and spiked U.S. Barbie toy sales by 25 per cent within two months of release. Indian metros turned pink: cafs threw "Barbie-core" nights; college fests hosted best-dressed Kens and Barbies. Even Mattel's CEO admitted India is "one big collaboration we're courting next".But something subtle shifted. Our childhood dolls were props in stories we wrote; Barbie came with a biography, a Malibu Dreamhouse and a social-media afterlife. "Play began to look outward," says Delhi psychologist Dr Vandana Rao. "Children stopped serving the doll tea and started serving her content."advertisementTHE GEN Z PIVOT: LABUBU & THE RISE OF "VOODOO-CUTE" Fast-forward to 2025. The hottest doll on Instagram is Labubu-a gremlin-like, nine-toothed sprite born in Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung's sketchbook and mass-marketed by China's Pop Mart. With blind-box drops, 1-in-720 chase figures, and celebrity boosts from Rihanna to Dua Lipa, Labubu turned Pop Mart's revenue into a HK$310 billion juggernaut and pushed plush sales up 1,200 per cent last year. Walk through any Gen Z hang-out in Mumbai or Seoul and you'll spot a Labubu key-chain dangling off a Balenciaga tote. The aesthetic is a deliberate "ugly-cute": stitched scars, jagged grin, gothic colourways. It is as far from Barbie's symmetry as Channapatna is from molded plastic, yet the core impulse-projecting identity onto a tiny companion-persists."Labubu feels like a pocket mascot for grown-up anxieties," says 23-year-old Pune collector Ananya Patil, who unboxes her blind-bags live on Twitch. "He's creepy-cute, just like adulthood."advertisementWHY DOLLS KEEP EVOLVING (AND WHY WE KEEP BUYING) Economists call it the "Play-Value Arc": as disposable incomes rise, toys evolve from utility (rattles) to identity tokens (collectibles). Social media accelerates the cycle-every new doll comes with a built-in fandom and a secondary market. A 2025 StockX report ranks Pop Mart above Nike in daily trades. THE COUNTER-CURRENT: WOODEN TOYS 2.0Ironically, Barbie's sustainability pledges (100 per cent recycled plastics by 2030) echo the very virtues Channapatna never lost. A rising eco-parent cohort is now buying back into wooden toys-sometimes commissioning artisans to carve custom figures that nod to contemporary pop culture (think Spider-Man in lac-red and indigo).Start-ups like Bengaluru's "Toylogue" blend Channapatna techniques with Montessori principles and ship worldwide. In 2024, their turnover doubled, helped by EU regulations on micro-plastics in kids' products. FULL-CIRCLE CUPS OF TEASo, where does that leave the next generation? Perhaps at a crossroads where the sound of a spinning lathe meets the ping of an app notification announcing the next blind-box drop. Yet when eight-year-old Ira Sharma throws a tea-party for her Barbie in Gurgaon, she still invites a hand-painted Channapatna elephant as "chief guest." And on her backpack swings a miniature Labubu in bubble-wrap armour, waiting for its Instagram after all, has always been a mirror. From lacquered wood to plastic glamour to voodoo-cute vinyl, dolls simply reflect the eras we grow up in-our hopes, our fears, our aesthetic rebellions. The tea set may be silicone now, the guest list more eclectic, but the ritual remains: we gather our little effigies, pour an imaginary brew, and practice being credit: Generative AI by Vani Gupta - Ends


Time of India
2 days ago
- Time of India
Farah Khan thanks, daughter diva, for allowing rare photo share: ‘So Grateful'
Farah Khan has gone into vacation mode! The well-known filmmaker and choreographer has taken a plane to Portugal to spend some time with her family. She recently shared adorable moments with her three kids, Diva, Anya, and Czar Kunder, on social media to give fans a sneak peek at her vacation. In a sweet Instagram picture, Farah and one of her daughters are seen strolling hand in hand through Lisbon's charming streets while gazing at one another under a bright, sunny sky. Farah is seen wearing an oversized yellow shirt with large multicolored polka dots, while Diva looked lovely in a strapless, smocked denim dress that was ideal for summertime events. She is also seen with a shoulder bag with a red print on it. Just so you know, the choreographer's son, Czar, took this lovely picture of the mother-daughter pair. Farah shared the post and expressed gratitude to her adorable daughter for allowing her to share the photo. "Sooo grateful to my daughter Diva for letting me post this pic of my favorite hand to hold. Pic credit: czar kunder #lisbontravel," she captioned the photo. Fans' and celebrities' reactions flooded the comments section as soon as the Main Hoon Na director shared the post. Red heart emoticons were released by Malaika Arora, comedian Bharti Singh, Maheep Kapoor, Zoya Akhtar, Sonu Soo, and Bhavna Pandey. "Gorgeous girls," said Neha Dhupia . by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Cuối cùng, chơi miễn phí game chiến thuật hay nhất 2025! Sea of Conquest Phát ngay Undo "Purest love of all," an Instagram user wrote. Beautiful mom and gorgeous daughter. Knocking on wood." In addition, the choreographer used Instagram Stories to post additional photos from her trip. Farah joked that it doesn't happen often, but in a unique and adorable moment, her daughter Anya even let her share a photo of herself online. She captioned the photo she shared, asking, "What's happening today? Anya let me put up her pic too." She did not, however, upload a photo of her son. On December 9, 2004, Farah married Shirish Kunder, a filmmaker. On February 11, 2008, the couple welcomed triplets—son Czar and daughters Diva and Anya—after an in vitro procedure. Regarding her career, Farah most recently served as the host and judge of Celebrity MasterChef, a reality show centered around cooking.


Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Zayed Khan shares how he was offered his debut film
Bollywood actor , who is known for his work in 'Dus', 'Main Hoon Na', 'Anjaana Anjaani' and others, has recollected how he got his debut film. The actor shared that he tagged along with Bollywood superstar on the sets of one of his films. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Talking about the same, "I started going to the gym, worked out, took dance classes, dialogue classes, acting classes - all of it. In fact, I'd also be reading my lines while standing at the petrol pump, waiting for the tank to be filled. And just like that, woh jalwa, woh nasha, obsession ho gaya". 'Sitaare Zameen Par': Riteish Deshmukh's Emotional Shoutout For Genelia's Big Win Immersing himself in the process, he sharpened his skills, in anticipation for the right moment to arrive. It came unexpectedly when Hrithik was shooting with and Ameesha Patel. Zayed had tagged along to the set, just to observe, when someone came up to him and offered him his very first movie. The actor further mentioned, "He asked me, 'You're a very good-looking guy. Will you do a film for me?' In that moment, I knew I was a lean, mean machine. I was looking good, I knew it, I was feeling it, I was prepared. But I was thinking, I'm probably going to do a home banner". The actor was taken by surprise but he didn't jump the gun. He asked for time to think about it, and approached his father, veteran actor Sanjay Khan, who offered him a sane piece of advice. "I went back and spoke to my father. I said, 'This happened - would you feel bad if I do this?' And my father has always been the kind of guy who says, 'When you make your own life, then you own it better, Zayed'", he added. Zayed is all set to make his digital debut with 'The Film That Never Was' (TFTNW). The actor is also rumoured to have signed on the dotted line of a couple of other projects.