In an old interview, Shah Rukh Khan stated that his father, Taj Mohammed Khan, was a freedom fighter in colonial India. During the interview, Shah Rukh revealed that Taj, at the age of 15, was the country’s “youngest freedom fighter.” Shah Rukh also revealed what his father told him about the country’s freedom.
Taj Mohammed Khan, Shah Rukh’s father, immigrated to India from Peshawar. When the actor was only 15 years old, he died of cancer. Lateef Fatima Khan, Shah Rukh’s mother, died in 1990 after a long illness.
Farida Jalal asked Shah Rukh Khan in an old interview, “The elders in your family have had a very revered and honorable connection with this country’s politics.” So, what do you have to say about the current political situation?” “My family, especially my father, we were all very closely connected with the country’s politics of those times (pre-independence India) because my father himself was the country’s youngest freedom fighter and related to people like General Shahnawaz,” he responded.
He continued, “Aye badmash idhar ago, aye Ullu ke patthey tum Apne aap ko itna hero ban ke gamergate ho (Hey you mischievous boy, come here. You donkey’s son, you walk around like a hero). Never take your liberties for granted. We gave it to you, so always keep this freedom. I used to think that by freedom he meant freedom from a foreign rule or something, but now that I’ve grown up, I realize that this freedom he was talking about was in terms of poverty, perhaps, freedom from misery.”
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