Farah Khan credits husband Shirish for well-brought-up children: ‘He was their counsellor’

3 min readHyderabadJun 27, 2026 11:07 AM IST

22 years into her marriage with Shirish Kunder, Farah Khan says the romance hasn’t disappeared, it has simply been replaced by something more useful.

Appearing on Shekhar Suman’s YouTube show, the filmmaker and choreographer spoke with candour about her marriage to director-editor Shirish Kunder, her late entry into motherhood, and how she now measures love in entirely different terms than she once did.

Asked why the early intensity of romance tends to fade once a relationship is formalised through marriage, Farah offered a grounded take rooted in how needs shift over time. She explained that the things people chase hardest before marriage often lose their charm once they’re attained, and that her own appreciation for her husband has simply moved elsewhere. “I value Shirish in other things now. As a father, as a person who looks after the whole family,” she said, crediting him as the one steady presence holding their household together.

That praise extended to how their three children have been raised. Farah Khan said Shirish Kunder has been deeply hands-on as a parent, taking personal charge of guiding their children through their education rather than relying on outside help. “He is a wonderful father. People ask me how all my children got early admissions into such good universities. I tell them their father was their counsellor. He gives so much time to each child,” she said.

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Despite the demands of fatherhood, Farah Khan that her husband has held on to his own interests outside the family. She revealed that he continues to write scripts and has recently picked up an unexpected new pursuit. “Of course, he writes scripts. He’s also learning AI. He’s a loner, and I’ve always known that. That’s one of the reasons I liked him,” she said, suggesting his more solitary, focused nature was part of what drew her to him in the first place.

The conversation also took a lighter turn when Khan brought up her son, Czar, now old enough to be roughly the same height as his father, leading to a recurring case of mistaken identity at home. “My son and Shirish are now the same height. If someone walks into the bedroom at night, I can’t make out whether it’s Shirish or my son. If the person comes and hugs me, then I know it’s my son,” she joked.

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Earlier in the conversation, Farah had spoken about the path that led to becoming a mother later in life than most. She revealed she was 42 when she began IVF treatment and 43 by the time she gave birth to her triplets, well past the age range typically associated with the procedure.

Farah Khan and Shirish Kunder, who married in 2004, are parents to Czar, Anya and Diva.