Kader Khan

Some Lesser Known Facts About Kader Khan

• Did Kader Khan smoke?: Not Known

• Did Kader Khan drink alcohol?: Not Known

• Kader was born into poverty in an Afghani-Muslim religious family.

• He had 3 brothers who all died in their adolescence before Kader was born. After Kader’s birth, his parents moved from Kabul to Mumbai with him; as they had a superstitious belief that the place they were staying at was curseful and had brought misfortunes in their lives.

• His family’s decision to move to Mumbai had brought no fortunes, even worse; as they used to live in Mumbai’s Kamathipura, an area infamous for its sex tourism. Kader often used to skip the school; as he had no shoes, and instead, he used to spent his day in the nearby graveyard, where he used to emulate the people.

• There was not much to cherish about in his miserable childhood, and any further hope also ended, when his parents got divorced. Moreover, his decision to stay with his mother proved to be a wrong one; as he was treated badly by his step-father.

• In the most difficult circumstances, he managed to remain focused at his studies; as he cleared his school and college exams with distinction. Thereafter, he went on to teach Mathematics at M. H. Saboo Siddik Engineering College in Mumbai.

• Alongside teaching, his captivating performances as an actor and writer at M. H. Saboo Siddik Engineering College’s theatre plays had always been the talk of the town. As a theatre artist, his salary was ₹350.

• His life took a new turn when he performed a play in an annual function at the college, where Dilip Kumar was the chief guest. Dilip got so much impressed with his performance that he signed him in his two films, ‘Sagina’ (1974) and ‘Bairaag’ (1976).

  

• Alongside acting, his writing career also blossomed after he co-wrote a romantic comedy film ‘Jawani Diwani’ (1972), starring Randhir Kapoor and Jaya Bachchan. For this film, he got a remuneration of ₹1,500 for ‘Jawaani Diwaani,’ but despite that, he continued with his teachings profession.

• Such was the demand of his writings that Manmohan Desai paid him a hefty amount of ₹1 lakh for writing the dialogues of the film ‘Roti’ (1974), starring Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz.

• After the duo of Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan, he played a pivotal role in Amitabh Bachchan‘s acting career as he wrote popular dialogues in his films like ‘Naseeb,’ ‘Agneepath,’ ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar,’ ‘Mr. Natwarlal,’ ‘Amar Akbar Anthony,’ and ‘Laawaris.’

• He excelled in all departments of acting and was one of those actors who could play a comedian and a villain with ease.

• He used to be a close friend of Amitabh Bachchan, and even advised him, not to enter politics. But after Amitabh joined politics, which is one of the reasons why their friendship ended.

  

• Apart from films, he had also worked on several popular TV shows such as ‘Mr. Dhansukh,’ ‘Hasna Mat,’ and ‘Hi! Padosi…Kaun Hai Doshi?’

• He inherited the teaching of the Quran from his Moulvi father and was a “Hafiz-e-Quran,” a person who has fully memorised the Quran. Moreover, he was also honoured by the ‘American Federation of Muslims from India’ (AFMI) for his acting and service to the Muslim community in India.

  

• His career spanned five decades, where he went on to work in over 300 films.