Faisal Khan

QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD

Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.

In Bollywood, it is inevitable that a star sibling gets chance to try his luck as well. Bobby Deol was given a mega launch by big brother Sunny in Barsaat (1995). He handled all the hype and hoopla for this much awaited movie. Akshaye Khanna’s brother Rahul also tried his hand in acting after a successful career as video jockey on MTV. Ekta Kapoor ensured her younger brother Tusshar continued to find his foot in the industry through various roles in her productions.

Our forgotten gem for today is also a superstar’s brother but unlike the aforementioned, his brother never promoted him in any manner. In fact, they were not on good terms with each other for quite some time. Yes, we are talking about Faisal Khan.

Born on 3rd August, 1966, Faisal’s father was noted film producer Tahir Hussain while mother Zeenat was a homemaker. His uncle Nasir Husain was the legendary producer director of ’60s and ’70s. His brother Aamir as well as cousin Mansoor Khan also grew up to be successful actor and director, respectively.

In spite being born in such a filmy background, Faisal never aspired to be an actor initially but nevertheless, made his first appearance as a child actor in uncle Nasir Husain’s Pyar Ka Mausam (1969) playing Shashi Kapoor’s childhood. After completing his school, he became an assistant to Mansoor Khan, who directed Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988) and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992). Both the films were hits and Faisal even played small inconsequential roles in them.

It was in 1994 that Faisal Khan was launched by father Tahir Hussain in Madhosh (1994) along with fellow debutant Anjali Jathar. This youthful romantic movie was directed by then newcomer Vikram Bhatt. Unfortunately, Madhosh bombed badly at the box office and also received negative reviews from critics. As a result, Faisal didn’t get more movie offers.

It was at this point that he decided to hone his acting talent further and joined the well-known theatre group of actor- director Makarand (Mak) Deshpande. Faisal appeared in many plays for this group.

After the super success of Raja Hindustani (1996), director Dharmesh Darshan started his next venture repeating his hero, Aamir Khan. He was on lookout for the second lead and happened to come across Faisal in a play. Dharmesh decided to cast him as Aamir’s best friend in Mela and it became the first and only movie where the two brothers worked together as leads.

Mela was a commercial masala movie borrowing elements from yesteryear hits like Nasir Husain’s Caravan (1971) as well as Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay (1975). The movie released in first week of January 2000 and contrary to expectations, became a disaster at the ticket windows. The box office fate of this film proved to be a big blow to Faisal’s career.

Nevertheless, Faisal’s performance received reasonable appreciation and he signed a few B grade films as the solo lead. Unfortunately, all these movies – Kaaboo (2002), Basti (2003), Border Hindustan Ka (2003) and Chand Bujh Gaya (2005) – turned out to be non-starters at the box office.

Faisal’s career was going nowhere and film offers were drying up fast. It was indeed, a terrible phase for him. In 2007, Faisal Khan went missing and was untraceable for two days. He had earlier filed a police complaint stating Aamir Khan was forcibly confining him to home under pretext of his mental illness. Faisal was finally traced to Pune and brought back to Mumbai where he underwent a medical examination.

A legal custody battle then ensued between his brother Aamir and father Tahir, which gained tremendous media coverage. Finally, Faisal Khan’s custody was given to Tahir Hussain.

This negative press impacted Faisal’s career significantly and he was out of work for many years. Finally in 2015, he announced his comeback in the romantic drama Chinar Dastaan-E-Ishq. Sadly, the film didn’t even secure a proper theatrical release and no one knew when it came and went. Another movie starring Faisal Khan titled Danger (2017), a horror drama involving cannibalism, remains in the cold storage till date.

Acknowledging his dwindling acting career, Faisal decided to turn to direction and produced a taut thriller called Faactory featuring himself and Roaleey Ryan in the lead. This film was one of the first to release after the second Covid lockdown was lifted in 2021 with 50% seat capacity norms.

Faisal Khan himself visited Gossip theatre in Bandra, where Faactory released and was glad to see ‘Housefull’ board on its first day. Overall, the movie was panned by the critics and remained an underperformer at the box office.

On the personal front, Faisal (or Faissal as per his recently numerology corrected name) was married earlier to Samia Kamruddin, a handbag designer based in London. He now stays alone at his home in Bandra, Mumbai and is active on social media and often interacts freely with his fans. He has also appeared in multiple YouTube interviews and openly spoken about his life as well as on the present status of Bollywood.

Faissal Khan is working on his next script and hopes to deliver the box office blockbuster like his superstar brother. Let’s say amen to that!!