HER BOOK REVEALS THE REAL SOHA

It’s actor Soha Ali Khan’s attempt to bust misconceptions about her and the upbringing she had as a princess

Being the daughter of two legends, sister to a superstar, and an established actor herself, actor Soha Ali Khan must have many tales to share about her starry life. But is everything necessarily rosy about stardom? In her upcoming book, The Perils Of Being Moderately Famous!, the actor-turned-author talks about her experiences as a ‘modern-day princess’. After all, she belongs to the Nawab family of Pataudi! Soha, who welcomed her first child, daughter Inaaya, with husband, actor Kunal Kemmu, this September, shares that the book is her way of revealing her “real self” to the world. “A lot of people have misconceptions about who I am as a person, what kind of upbringing I had, and how is it belonging to a famous family where everyone is a bit of a superstar — my brother (actor Saif Ali Khan), mother (actor Sharmila Tagore), father (Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi) and sisterin-law (actor Kareena Kapoor Khan). But when people meet me, they are like ‘You aren’t like what I expected’. I thought it would be nice to give people an insight into what it’s like to be me,” says the 39-year old.

Talking about how she decided to write a book, Soha says, “I was a student of History in college, so we had to write a lot of essays, and since then a lot of people said you write so well, you should write a book some day. Of course, I love reading, but I have always said that there’s a great difference between being a good reader and being able to write,” says the actor, who was sceptical even after she started penning it.

“The publishers came to me with a proposition to publish my book and said, ‘We hear you are intelligent, maybe we could work with you’. It sounded really daunting, to be able to write 40,000-50,000 words. I didn’t know if I had it in me, so I asked if I could write one chapter and send it to the editor first. She liked it, and so I started writing the book and finished a couple of months ago,” adds Soha, who didn’t want to do fiction.

“There are chapters from my life — childhood and college days, travel, films, the Pataudi lineage, and our relationship with (legendary author) Rabindranath Tagore,” she says.

Asked about the interesting title of her book, she gives a humble reply, “Everyone in my family is an achiever, but though not entirely non-famous, I am certainly not of that calibre of fame.” Hence, the title ‘moderately famous’.

Everyone in my family is an achiever, but though not entirely nonfamous, I am certainly not of that calibre of fame. Hence, the title ‘moderately famous’ SOHA ALI KHAN, ACTOR

Cover of Soha’s book