Imran Khan on quitting Bollywood, says fatherhood made him realise he wanted to be the ‘best version’ of himself: ‘I had to fix myself’

Imran Khan, who willingly stepped away from the movies nine years ago, is starting to plan a comeback, thanks to the internet. An innocent comment on an Instagram post led to a renewed interest in the actor who was once pitted against Ranbir Kapoor. Now, Imran is starting to take small steps in the direction of facing the camera again. In a recent interview, Imran shared that after he became a father, he started looking at his life and his career from a different perspective and realised that he had to be his best version for his daughter, but being an actor was almost a hindrance in that direction.

Talking to Vogue, Imran, who was last seen in 2015’s Katti Batti with Kangana Ranaut said that he “hit a low in 2016 where I felt broken inside.” Acknowledging his privileges, Imran said that since he was a popular actor, he did not need to worry about money by the time he was 30 and at point in time, he was asking some philosophical questions about life.

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“At that point, it wasn’t my career because I wasn’t excited by it enough to want to work hard for it,” he said. Imran had had a string of flops and for an actor who had a very successful debut in 2008 with Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, this was a strange turn. Talking about how fatherhood shaped him, Imran said, “I had recently become a father and thought, ‘This is valuable. This is something I take seriously.’ I wanted to be the best version of myself for Imara.” And this made him realise his actual goal in life. “I decided it was no longer my job to be an actor. Now, I had to fix myself; be at my healthiest and strongest for my daughter,” he said.

Imran and his then-wife Avantika married in 2011 and welcomed their daughter Imara in 2014. The couple divorced in 2019.