Indian Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan was stabbed in a scuffle with an intruder at his home early Thursday and underwent surgery at a hospital, media reports said.
The 54-year-old actor was taken to the hospital from his home in Mumbai, the country’s financial and entertainment capital, where he lives with his movie star wife, Kareena Kapoor, and two sons.
Two of the six wounds were deep, with one near his spine, the Press Trust of India news agency cited a doctor at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital as saying.
Indian media quoted police as saying the intruder barged into the house at about 2:30 a.m. local time and fled after stabbing Khan. A female employee at Khan’s home was also injured during the attack and was being treated, they said.
Police are investigating and have launched a search for the attacker.
Posting on Instagram, Kapoor said that while the family appreciated the outpouring of support, they were requesting privacy. The constant coverage and paparazzi attention, she wrote, were “not only overwhelming but also pose a significant risk to [their] safety.”
Among the country’s most bankable stars, Khan is the son of India’s former cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore. His daughter from a previous marriage, Sara, is also a Bollywood actor.
“We use the term ‘film royalty’ quite easily. He’s actual royalty,” Asim Burney, host of Khandaan — A Bollywood Podcast, told CBC News. He was referring to Khan’s ceremonial role as Nawab of Pataudi, a royal title drawn from his family’s history as governors. Khan inherited the title — and a palace — after his father died in 2011.
Combined with Kapoor’s family — of the metaphorical “film royalty” clique who, Burney says, have been part of Indian cinema for roughly 100 years — they have become one of Bollywood’s most well-known couples.
Sweethearts of Indian film
But Khan’s passion for the craft and international outreach has also played a large part in his fame, Burney said.
Khan, who is also a movie producer, has been featured in about 70 films and television series, including English-language roles. He has acted in several notable films and series, including Sacred Games — Netflix’s first Indian production — which was released in 2018.
He has won multiple awards for his roles in Hindi cinema, including seven Filmfare Awards. In 2010, he received the Padma Shri, the fourth highest Indian civilian award.
That combination of factors — their fame, security and beloved reputation — have set off intense speculation and worry throughout Mumbai and the Bollywood community.
Emaan Khan, a Toronto-based Bollywood critic, said the couple have considerable security given their fame. They are also often referred to as the sweethearts of the Indian film industry: so well known and regarded that the couple’s two young sons are already mini-celebrities of their own, garnering widespread attention and adulation despite never having acted.
In her estimation, the question of why, and how, an attacker would enter the family’s home is driving the media buzz.
“Generally, Bollywood is very loved, just like cricket in India. There’s no reason to be attacking people who are trying to entertain,” Khan said.
“It is rare and that’s why it’s sent shock waves … Everybody starts thinking: ‘How did that happen to someone who’s so secure?”
Following the attack, film stars and opposition leaders called for police to beef up security measures in the city.
“If such high-profile people with … security can be attacked in their homes, what could happen to common citizens?” Clyde Crasto, spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party, asked on X.
Actor and filmmaker Pooja Bhatt also called for a greater police presence in the suburb in which the attack took place — home to many in the film industry.
“The city, and especially the queen of the suburbs, have never felt so unsafe before,” she said on X, using a popular description for the trendy Bandra area.
Bollywood stardom, privacy concerns
Mohit Rajhans, a Toronto-based writer and broadcaster who has met Khan in the past, told CBC News the attack brings up a wider conversation around the social media scrutiny that surrounds Bollywood stars.
Such performers, he said, are at the centre of “paparazzi culture,” in which support often translates into fans congregating around stars’ homes and — in some cases — physically fighting against their security detail to get closer to them and their families.
“If you are familiar with the actual culture of Bollywood stardom, you’ll start to realize that there has been a massive amount of … privacy that these stars have had to sacrifice as a result of multimedia culture,” he said, noting that things as personal as their flight details and daily movements are tracked and logged.
“Many of these stars, whether they’re leaving restaurants or whether they’re simply on vacation, are starting to see their lives being translated online 24/7. And that could be a security concern,” Rajhans said.
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