4 min readMumbaiJun 28, 2026 05:45 PM IST
Saif Ali Khan is a product of an interfaith marriage between his late father and legendary cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan aka Tiger Pataudi and mother and veteran actor Sharmila Tagore. He went on to have two interfaith marriages of his own — first with Amrita Singh, whom he divorced in 2004, followed by Kareena Kapoor in 2012. He confessed that he often discusses religion with his kids from the second marriage — Taimur Ali Khan and Jehangir Ali Khan.
Saif Ali Khan on discussing religion with kids
“It’s a conversation I love having with them. Because I myself am not the most religious of people. My mother taught me, and I taught my kids, that there’s one god and he has many names. It’s as simple as that. You worship him in different places. And if your religion talks about love and forgiveness to your fellow men, then that’s it,” Saif Ali Khan said at We The Women’s London edition.
Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan’s wedding.
“I’ve grown up in churches, in schools which start with being at chapel. I’ve tried bunking that by saying I’m from a different religion, and then they got a maulvi to come and talk to us. That didn’t work,” Saif recalled, laughing. “But it was quite a Christian upbringing. The kids would say the prayer, followed by prayers of other religions. They’d celebrate Christmas as much as Diwali. That’s the kind of upbringing I’ve had. I’ve never really thought about it. It’s intuitive,” he added.
Saif Ali Khan quoted a recent conversation he had with his son Taimur Ali Khan, where he asked him, “What’s the difference between religion and methodology?” Taimur, 9 years old, responded, “In religion, we pray, and in methodology, we don’t.” “It’s a good answer,” Saif said, adding, “So, we’re constantly talking about these things. I’m lucky I haven’t grown up like that. My mother had an open mind about these things, and so does my wife. It’s more of a spiritual approach.”
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore’s wedding.
Interfaith marriages in Saif Ali Khan’s family
Last year, Saif Ali Khan’s younger sister and fellow actor Soha Ali Khan recalled that she and her husband Kunal Kemmu faced as much flak for their interfaith marriage as Saif and Kareena Kapoor. “I am fine with everyone having an opinion and that’s all fine. So I think these things like… interfaith marriage, even when Kunal and I got married, even when Kareena and bhai got married there were lots of strange things – Love Jihad, Ghar Wapsi, all kinds of weird headlines were being made as well. You know, ‘you took one of ours, now we will take one of yours,’” Soha told journalist Nayandeep Rakshit.
Saif and Soha’s mother Sharmila Tagore had to convert to Islam and rechristen herself as Ayesha before marrying Mansoor Ali Khan. “It wasn’t easy nor was it very difficult. It had to be faced and understood. You couldn’t be very flippant about it. Before that, I wasn’t terribly religious. Now, I think I know more about Hinduism and Islam,” Sharmila had said on Rendezvous with Simi Garewal back in the early 2000s.
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Three years ago, Kareena Kapoor Khan also opened up on her interfaith marriage with Saif Ali Khan on The Express Adda. “We spend so much time discussing interfaith (relationships). So much energy, so much that they are 10 years apart. The important thing is to have fun. The most important thing between Saif and I is that we like each other and enjoy our company. How should it matter what faith he follows or what his age is that isn’t even a point of discussion,” she said.