Farah Khan Ali confirmed that her father Sanjay Khan married actor Zeenat Aman in the 1970s and later divorced her through Muslim rituals.
Sanjay was already married to Zarine Khan, with whom he was expecting their fourth child, Zayed Khan, when he was in a relationship with Zeenat Aman.
Farah dismissed decades-old allegations of Sanjay physically assaulting Zeenat at a five-star hotel party in 1979.
Farah Khan Ali confirmed that her father, actor Sanjay Khan, married and later divorced actor Zeenat Aman during the 1970s. During that period, the actor was already married to Zarine Khan. The couple had three daughters and were expecting a fourth child.
Speaking on a YouTube channel hosted by Vickey Lalwani, Farah opened up about the decades-old relationship of Sanjay and Zeenat. When she asked about her father marrying Zeenat, she said, "Yes, he had at that point (married her)."
"There was a Muslim way of getting married, and he divorced her the Muslim way as well," she added.
Denies public assault
Earlier reports claimed that Sanjay assaulted Zeenat at a 1979 party at a five-star hotel in the presence of Zarine, causing an eye injury. In several interview, Zeenat opened up about surviving "physical abuse publicly" without naming individuals. Sanjay also denied these allegations earlier.
Farah describe the incident as "hogwash". She added that her father "is not a violent man to raise a finger on a woman" and has never raised his hand on her mother or any of his daughters.
She also said that Zeenat's eye condition is genetics and not due to physical violence. "My mother told me that Zeenat’s mother suffered from an eye disease… Her eye was also a little smaller, and it was something genetic that happened to her. Not something that the press wrote about. My mother told me that my father never raised his hand on Zeenat Aman. So all this nonsense about a party where my father beat her is bullsh*t," Farah said.
Zeenat later got married to Mazhar Khan in 1985, who passed away in 1998.
Impact of Sanjay Khan-Zeenat Aman's relationship on his marriage
Farah said that the relationship "almost broke" her parents' marriage. Zarine held both Sanjay and Zeenat responsible.
After giving birth to Zayed Khan, she left the newborn and the entire family for three to four months and returned as an independent woman.
"She left Zayed behind with my father and with all of us and she came back looking like a million dollars. My father was like, ‘Wow! What happened!’ I think that was the shift when he realised that my mother was someone who was independent and could just take off and do what she wanted, and she didn’t depend on him, and I think that’s what brought him back," Farah added.
