“Both mother and son are doing very well” – Soha Ali Khan

By Subhash K. Jha -

December 20, 2016 - 3:10 PM IST

Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan’s newly born baby boy has been given the royal name of Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi. Knowing Kareena Kapoor Khan the way I do I know this must be the happiest moment in her life. Motherhood was a stage of her life which she was willing and eager to embrace after marriage. “Every woman wants to go through the various stages of her life. It must all happen at the right time. Of course I want to be a mother. And it will happen soon,” she had confided in me last year.

“Both mother and son are doing very well” – Soha Ali Khan

Having known her from when she was 18, it fills me with near-paternal pride to know that one of my favourite persons in the film business now a mother. Under all the diva act Kareena was always a very family-oriented girl. Though her parents live separate from one another Kareena is fiercely protective of both Babita and Randhir Kapoor. As a mum Kareena always modelled her future according to her own mum’s life. “My mother has brought up my sister and I with utmost care and concern. We were never allowed to feel like star-children. We were given no preferential treatment at home or in public. Mum made sure we sisters were brought up with the right values. But she never gave up her life to be a mother. She had her pals and her movies and her life. She still has them,” Kareena had once said to me.

Can she make a success of her career after motherhood? Of course she can!

Kareena has her mother-in-law Sharmila Tagore’s example before her. The diva from the 1960s and 70s married the Nawab of Pataudi, had three children and had a hugely successful innings as a leading lady in Bollywood in films like Aradhana, Amar Prem, Aavishkar and Daag. Most of her successful films were opposite Rajesh Khanna. Kareena has her own ‘Rajesh Khanna’ factor to bolster her career whenever she returns after motherhood. All three Khan superstars Salman, Shah Rukh and Aamir dote on her and would have no qualms accommodating her shift in priorities into their cinematic excursions.

From sensuous singleton, to seductive wife and now the third chapter in her mature years as the yummy mummy…Kareena will rock it. I have a hunch she will be around sharing screen space with the three Khans even when her first-born is ready for stardom. “One thing is for sure. I’ll never give up acting. When I get older I’ll play mum. Then I’ll play grand mom. Like my grandfather (Raj Kapoor) said Jeena yahan marna yahan,” Kareena once said to me.

Kareena is fiercely attached to her sister Karisma’s two children and couldn’t wait to have her own. It’s been a journey worth making for her. From the time she met Saif Ali Khan on the sets of Tashan in Ladakh, her life changed forever. Saif complements her personality beautifully. She taught him to enjoy himself in friends’ company. He taught her the pleasures of reading.

Now Saif being the more experienced parent can initiate Kareena into the pleasures of parenthood. Says her proud aunt Soha Ali Khan, “We are delighted. Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi is a beautiful baby boy. Both mother and son are doing well!”