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Google searches in India shot up in curiosity to look up a certain someone called Gauri Pratt, Aamir Khan’s new girlfriend.
Aamir Khan’s new girlfriend Gauri Pratt has been in the headlines recently.
Lagaan made no sense to anyone. Director Ashutosh Gowariker’s obvious conviction aside, nobody was interested. Aamir Khan rejected the script. Javed Akhtar opined that a movie about cricket, set in 1893, with the actors dressed in not-so-modern attires, communicating in Awadhi no less, was a cocktail for disaster. Amitabh Bachchan who was asked to narrate Lagaan briefly “warned” Khan that no other movies that previously used his voice for narration had been a box office hit. If that weren’t enough to discourage and shelve Gowariker’s passion project, no producers were interested to back such an elaborate and expensive outing. Lagaan made no sense to anyone. Until it finally did.
When Khan was finally onboard with the story, he was summoned by Akhtar to drop the project for it was destined to fail. But when Lagaan made sense to Khan, things slowly but surely started falling in place. He took it upon himself to start his own production company – Aamir Khan Productions – marking his debut as the producer. But Khan couldn’t do this alone. There were dozens of actors involved, a whole village at play to form the audience for the cricket match. Excel sheet saw new expenses by the day. He wanted a trustworthy partner to co-produce Lagaan with him. Reena Dutta, his then wife, was the chosen one. Dutta had no prior experience in cinema except for being married to a Hindi movie star. Hailing from a regular middle-class family, Dutta joined the madness that was Lagaan.
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Released in 2001 with a running time of 233 minutes, Lagaan became the school of filmmaking. Management colleges used it as a case study to showcase Bhuvan’s (Aamir Khan) recruitment skills. The madness in the desert resonated with the masses. Gowariker’s precise direction, Akhtar’s lyrical genius, AR Rahman’s elaborate score, Khan’s Bhuvan – mouths were shut, others opened only to heap praises on the masterpiece that was Lagaan. But the following year Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta, the couple that had co-produced the Oscar-nominated cinema, called it quits.
Reena Dutta
Aamir Khan-Reena Dutta’s love story is no less than a Bollywood movie. The two stared at each other through the windows of their houses. Khan gathered some courage to ask his neighbour out. Despite several rejections from Dutta, Khan kept at it, for he didn’t believe in giving up. One day, Dutta admitted to Khan that she felt the same way about him. Khan even wrote a letter with his blood to express his love for Dutta. Unimpressed by this, Dutta sternly asked her partner to never pull off a stunt like that again to prove his love for her. As the couple belonged to different religions, the two eloped and got married on April 18, 1986 at a court. In 1993, their first child Junaid Khan was born. Ira Khan, the couple’s first daughter, came into their lives later in 1997.
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The couple fell out of love and filed for divorce in 2002. An amicable separation, the two co-parent their kids to this day and have only nice things to say about each other in their respective public appearances.
Kiran Rao
Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan met on the sets of Lagaan. Contacted by filmmaker and screenwriter Reema Kagti to join the gig, Rao took up the role of assistant director. “It was a film called Lagaan. Back then, I hadn’t seen a lot of Hindi movies. I didn’t have a reference point to know how different it was in some ways. Aamir was taking a huge risk making this sports film, backing 100 years ago in Awadhi, a different dialect altogether. When I was in-charge of getting all of them into layers and layers of their outfits, it was quite an experience. It was like a film school for me,” Rao said during an interview with Cyrus Says.
But it was much later when Khan and Rao started dating. The duo met during the shooting of Mangal Pandey (2005) and hit it off instantly, according to Rao. The two reconnected during Swades, We The People (2004) when Khan was working on Mangal Pandey and this was when the two became a couple.
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The same year the couple tied the knot and together they made Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na (2008), Peepli Live (2010), Delhi Belly (2011), Dangal (2016), Laapataa Ladies (2024), among others.
Despite their separation in 2021, Rao-Khan continue to work together. The two also co-parent Azad Rao Khan, their only son born in 2011.
Two Divorces Later
Not to shy away from the topic of divorce, Khan has often candidly spoken about his relationships with Rao and Dutta in public and with immense respect.
“You know the important people I met in my life, like Reena – she and I were married when we were together for 16 years. It was a runaway marriage, humne bhaag ke shaadi ki this (We eloped to get married). The most important relationships that I had in my life were with these wonderful people. Both Reena and Kiran are amazing people. These two women are the ones I have spent my life with, and they have given me a lot,” Khan told India Today.
The actor further added that despite the two separations, the mutual love and respect between all of them has existed in all capacities.
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Reena Dutta – Kiran Rao
No, they don’t hate each other. In fact, Rao-Dutta share a close bond, something that confuses a lot of folks around them. “Whenever Reena and I are out together, the cameras go crazy. They aren’t even interested in Aamir. Reena and I are like okay we’ll stand together and smile because we are friends. Coming to this juncture of being the modern family, I feel great. I am all for being the poster girl of this kind of a modern, inclusive family. There should be more of this. I’m happy to give tips to anyone on how to be friends with their ex’s ex-wives,” Rao told Film Companion. Rao added that people could move on from divorces and remain cordial.
Gauri Pratt
Aamir Khan, now 60, admits that he finally feels settled with Gauri Pratt. Khan and Pratt recently made headlines when the duo opened up about their relationship to the media during Khan’s pre-birthday celebrations. The couple revealed that they crossed paths about 25 years ago only to lose touch and reconnect a couple of years ago.
“She grew up in Bangalore, and her exposure was to different kinds of films and arts. So she doesn’t watch Hindi films. She has probably not seen much of my work, too,” Khan said Pratt wasn’t too familiar with his movies but had watched Dil Chahta Hai and Lagaan years ago.
While revealing what made her fall in love with the superstar, Pratt said: “I wanted someone who was kind, a gentleman, and just caring.” Khan, on the other hand, admitted that he wanted someone to be calm with and provided him peace and that’s something he found in Pratt. Mom to a 6-year-old, Pratt owns a salon in Mumbai.
