A casual cooking vlog between two second-generation film personalities cracked open one of Bollywood's most quietly poignant backstories — how a single Friday box office verdict in 1971 dismantled a family's financial security overnight.
Farah Khan's family didn't actually become poor because of Ayan Mukerji's father—but the filmmaker jokingly credits Deb Mukherjee (Ayan's late father) for her family's overnight financial ruin. During a May 2026 cooking vlog with Tanishaa Mukerji, Farah revealed that her father's 1971 film "Aisa Bhi Hota Hai"—starring Deb Mukherjee as the lead hero—bombed at the box office, wiping out the family's wealth in a single weekend.
This isn't just gossip; it's a raw, verified account of how Bollywood's risky pre-studio era could destroy families overnight. Let's break down exactly what happened, why it matters, and what Farah's story reveals about the industry.
The Vlog That Sparked the Story
When filmmaker Farah Khan sat down with actor Tanishaa Mukerji to cook sabudana khichdi for a YouTube vlog, nobody expected the kitchen banter to turn into a window into the brutal economics of old Bollywood. Yet as the two women moved from chopping and stirring to the terrace and candid conversation, Farah delivered a line that has since circled the internet at speed.
"I always tell Ayan Mukerji that because of his dad we became poor. Because my dad made his first big color film with Deb Mukerji in the lead role, and it bombed at the box office on Friday, and on Monday, we became poor."
— Farah Khan, speaking on Tanishaa Mukerji's cooking vlog, 2026
The statement was delivered with the self-deprecating humour Farah is known for — but beneath the joke lies a story of real financial collapse, an industry with no safety nets, and two children who would grow up to become some of Hindi cinema's most respected names.
The Film at the Heart of It: Aisa Bhi Hota Hai (1971)
The film Farah was referring to is Aisa Bhi Hota Hai, a 1971 Hindi feature produced by her father, Kamran Khan, and directed by him as well. The film starred veteran actor Deb Mukherjee — father of present-day filmmaker Ayan Mukerji — alongside Nandita Bose, comedian Tun Tun, and Jalal Agha. The music was composed by the legendary O.P. Nayyar, with songs sung by Kishore Kumar, Asha Bhosle, and Mohammed Rafi.
By any metric, it was not a low-budget affair — it was Kamran Khan's first big colour production, representing a major financial and professional leap for the producer. Color films in 1971 India cost considerably more than black-and-white, and were seen as prestige projects that could transform a producer's career. When the film failed, it did not just result in a loss — it wiped out the family's financial standing entirely.
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Why One Flop Could Destroy a Family in 1970s Bollywood
To understand why a single film's failure could be so catastrophic, you need to understand how the Hindi film industry worked in that era. Farah herself provided the critical context, explaining that filmmakers in those days invested their own money directly into productions. There were no major studios cushioning risk, no streaming residuals, no safety nets of the kind that exist today.
Kamran Khan was not just a producer but also a former stuntman who had worked his way up in the industry. He had poured personal capital into Aisa Bhi Hota Hai as his most ambitious project yet. When the film opened to empty theatres, there was nothing to fall back on. By Monday morning after the Friday release, the financial damage was done and irreversible.
Farah and her brother Sajid Khan — who would later become a filmmaker himself — grew up in the aftermath of that collapse. Their parents eventually separated, and the two siblings learned early to rely on themselves. Farah has spoken openly in past interviews about how her father died with just ₹30 in his pocket. The number is not hyperbole — it is the number she cited on Simi Garewal's talk show Rendezvous, reflecting a lifetime of professional misfortune that never fully recovered from that 1971 turning point.
A Timeline of Two Families Shaped by the Same Film
- 1971
Aisa Bhi Hota Hai releases and bombs at the box office. Kamran Khan's family faces immediate financial collapse. Deb Mukherjee continues his acting career.
- Mid–Late 1970s
Farah and Sajid Khan grow up amid financial hardship after parents' separation. Kamran Khan struggles to revive his career as a producer.
- 1983
Ayan Mukerji is born to Deb Mukherjee and Amrit Mukerji in Calcutta.
- 1992
Farah Khan enters mainstream Hindi cinema as a choreographer with Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.
- ~Late 1990s
Kamran Khan passes away penniless, as confirmed by Farah in multiple interviews.
- 2003–2007
Farah directs Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om — both blockbusters. Ayan Mukerji joins Karan Johar's Dharma Productions.
- 2009
Ayan Mukerji debuts as director with Wake Up Sid — a critical and commercial success.
- March 2025
Deb Mukherjee passes away at the age of 83 in Mumbai. Ayan Mukerji mourns alongside close friends Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.
- 2026
Farah Khan revisits the story on Tanishaa Mukerji's cooking vlog, joking that Ayan's father is responsible for her family becoming poor.
‘Hum Gareeb Hue…’ Farah Khan Says Her Family Struggled Because Of Ayan Mukerji’s Fatherhttps://t.co/aiogdJ6NZ4#FarahKhan #AyanMukerji
— The Filmy Charcha (@thefilmycharcha) May 29, 2026
Two Families, Parallel Stories
What makes Farah's revelation particularly striking is that both families — the Khans and the Mukerji-Samarthis — emerged from the same unpredictable industry ecosystem but at entirely different vantage points. While Kamran Khan's one failure proved terminal for his fortunes, the Mukherjee family had deep institutional roots in Indian cinema dating back to Ayan's grandfather Sashadhar Mukherjee, one of the founding partners of Filmistan Studio.
Tanishaa Mukerji, Deb's niece and daughter of filmmaker Shomu Mukerji, added her own layer to the conversation during the vlog. She acknowledged that her own family's financial stability had also fluctuated depending on how films performed — a rare admission of shared vulnerability across Bollywood dynasties that publicly project only success.
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How Farah Khan Turned Hardship Into a Filmmaking Philosophy
What separates Farah Khan's telling of this story from self-pity is the lens through which she frames it. Rather than blaming Deb Mukherjee — she says so explicitly, calling it a joke — she has consistently used her father's fate as the moral engine behind her own commercial instincts. At the Big Cine Expo in 2019, she articulated this clearly: she feels responsible for ensuring that every person involved in the ecosystem of a film release — from the samosawaala outside the theatre to the exhibitor — makes money when her films open.
It is also why, despite critical scepticism, Farah has remained committed to crowd-pleasing entertainers. Her highest-grossing films — Main Hoon Na (2004), Om Shanti Om (2007) — were deliberate acts of mainstream filmmaking, a conscious refusal to make the kind of prestige film that her father gambled on and lost. She has spoken of the Simi Garewal interview moment not with anger, but with a stated resolution: "You can get bitter and angry with the world, but I choose to remember the happy times."
What This Story Tells Us About Old Bollywood's Risk Economy
Beyond the personal drama, Farah's anecdote illuminates something rarely discussed in mainstream Bollywood coverage: the financial precariousness that defined the industry before corporate studios and digital platforms changed the economics of filmmaking. For every producer who hit it big in the 1960s and 1970s, there were several whose life savings evaporated on a single release weekend.
Today, films are backed by conglomerates, co-produced across multiple partners, and partially recouped through satellite rights, streaming deals, and brand integrations long before a single ticket is sold. In 1971, Kamran Khan had none of that. His bet on a colour film with a popular lead actor was rational — it just didn't pay off.
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