Quoting the example of uncles Aamir Khan and Mansoor Khan, Imran Khan said that a little bit of disenchantment and disengagement with Bollywood is built into their family.

Imran Khan says its ‘khandaani bimaari’ to disappear from the spotlight. (Photo: Imran Khan/Instagram)

Imran Khan, who has been in the headlines after hinting at his comeback almost a decade after giving it all up in 2015, recently talked about how it’s a family tendency to suddenly disappear from the limelight. The actor gave the example of his uncles Aamir Khan and Mansoor Khan who never enjoyed the limelight but rather focused on their craft. He also shared how, in his career, he has ‘turned down’ more money than he has accepted.

In an interview with Zoom, Imran said, “From the moment I entered the business with Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, I have turned down more money than I have accepted. You can show up at events and they will pay you. You can walk the ramps and they will pay you. You go to the launch of a shopping mall, you cut a ribbon and they pay you. I never accepted those things. The number of people who would call and say come and cut a ribbon and take so much money. For me, I would always tend to pull away from those things. Truthfully, I have turned down more money than I have accepted.”

For Imran Khan, it’s a family tendency to walk away from the limelight. Imran, who lived in a Gurukul from the age of 11 to 15, joked it was a ‘khandaani bimaari (family ailment)’ to be disengaged and disenchanted.

He said, “That is kind of a family tendency — Aamir or my uncle Mansoor. Mansoor, famously after making four films, left the city, moved to Coonoor. I could say, yeh thodi khandaani bimaari hai (it’s a family ailment). A little bit of disengagement and disenchantment with which a lot of people hold with such value, for us, in my family that is what I have seen and that is how I have been raised that don’t put stock in these things. This comes and goes like a tide. You don’t put your stock in that. You put stock in your craft, you put stock in your film. Film is forever.”

Imran left the film industry after his film Katti Batti, also starring Kangana Ranaut, flopped at the box office. In a conversation with Film Companion, Imran revealed that he left films when he felt disconnected from his true self. He said, “It’s not my job to be an actor. I can be an actor if I want, I cannot be an actor if I don’t want these things. That was optional, fixing myself is not optional.”

Recently, there were rumours of the actor marking his comeback with the film Happy Patel, backed by Aamir Khan. However, the actor dismissed the rumours. He told Times Entertainment, “It’s not true. Vir Das is directing and starring in Happy Patel. I am not in the film. They have just used a photograph of me as part of an in-film joke.”