Saif-Amrita: Portrait of a marriage

It happened one night. 21-year-old Saif Ali Khan met a much older Amrita Singh at a party. She invited him home with a warning to get his own bottle of Scotch. He went and as Saif famously said, ‘‘I never left.’’ Saif Ali Khan married actress Amrita Singh in October 1991.

Their marriage has been in news because of the fact – Amrita Singh was 12years older than Saif Ali Khan. After thirteen years of marriage and two children, a daughter named Sara and a son named Ibrahim. In Tinseltown like other, this statement has proved to be untrue…hottie Khan split with his wife. The couple divorced in 2004. Since divorce children have been living with their mother Amrita Singh and as for Saif story – its all open in news, right? Saif and Amrita had a good marriage albeit a tempestuous one. But he always spoke highly of her and he was the light of her life.

Simi Garewal, who played hostess to the couple a few years back on her show Rendezvous With Simi Garewal says, ‘‘I haven’t been in touch with Saif and Dingy (Amrita) but I hope it’s just a phase and they get back together. It’s too early for an obit.’’

Ironically, when it started, their relationship was only greeted with obituaries. The couple got married secretly. Saif’s father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and mother Sharmila Tagore did not approve. Friends hadn’t given more than a year together. Saif was just about to start his tryst with cinema while she was already an established leading lady. He was known for his wild ways with women (and animals—he threw his dog from a high-rise as a child, clipped wings of birds and hunted deer).

She was known for her high-profile affaires de coeur—with cricketer Ravi Shastri and actor Vinod Khanna. Commenting on their unique courtship, Singh had once declared, ‘‘Either he was mature at 21 or I was retarded at 26.’’

The couple stuck together for over a decade. But news of Saif’s reported link-ups with Riya Sen, Smriti Mishra, Preity Zinta. Rosa had the gossip mills racing.Finally, he found new love in much youger and gorgeous superstar bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor.

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