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‘Why settle for a hamburger when I have steak at home?’

LIFE COULDN’T have been more fulfiling for choreographer-turned-director Farha Khan. Riding high on the success of Om Shanti Om, she is eagerly awaiting the birth of her triplets, in two months from now.

Fagged out at times, but mostly upbeat, she says, “Since the time I conceived, my babies have been accompanying me everywhere including the post production work. So it’s but natural that films will be seeped into their blood.”

The mum-to-be goes on to express her ardent wish, “I hope at least one of them becomes a film director.”

Till then of course, Farha is busy reading more scripts for her next film. “I have been constantly working for the last 20 years, now I will take a break for a year before I start my next film. And before the question pops up, yes, I want Shah Rukh Khan in my next film too,” she states clearly.

SRK because commercially he’s a safe bet right? “What’s wrong in that? When the world wants to work with him, why shouldn’t I? Why settle for a hamburger when I have steak at home? He is my best friend and our working relationship has been successful in the past. He is like family now, so why not?”

At 42, when most women pull away from an active working life, Farha is raring to go. “I feel life just beginning for me. For all the women who care to listen, 40 is the new 30 for us. It’s never too late to have what you want. It’s the nature of law that people talk, but they also get on with their lives. I was never bothered about anyone. I did what I thought was right. I married a man of my choice, got my success — even if it’s late. Do what your heart tells you, you will never live regretting that you didn’t do it.”

And true to it, Farha has no regrets whatsoever. She married Shirish Kunder who is younger than her by eight years.

“There’s no formula to a successful marriage. Had I married someone older than me, I would be stuck with a fuddy daddy for the rest of my life. I am glad I married someone younger and yes, even though there’s an age gap there’s no scope for insecurity. I don’t have illusions that Shirish married a beauty. Because I am not one. In fact, when he proposed, he was clear that only if I intend to have his babies, he would marry me. He may be eight years younger, but I am the kid in this relationship,” she explains.

Another thing that keeps the two connected, says Farha, is their sense of humour. “I tell him, by the time my children will be in their 20s, I will have to take a senior citizen ticket and sit on a wheel chair if I have to travel with them. And sometimes when we discuss movies, Shirish jokes that he hasn’t heard of that movie because he wasn’t born then. We laugh on such things. It’s so nice.”

And even though Farha is more successful than him, she says there aren’t any ego hassles between them. “I made my first movie when I was 39, and Shirish made his at 34. It’s unfair to compare. Give him some time,” she smiles.

There have been unpleasant reports about Shirish’s wayward behaviour in public. “I don’t get stressed out by such reports. I take it with a pinch of salt. I am not blinded by love that I don’t see things. If there was any truth to it, I wouldn’t have been with him. I know my man,” she says.