Mumbai, Dec 17 (IANS) Indian jewelry designer, Farah Khan Ali is remembering her mother, the late actress Zarine Khan. On Wednesday, she took to her Instagram, and penned a long note, as she shared that her mother led with kindness and compassion.
She wrote, “Death is the greatest equaliser. I could never have imagined what it truly makes you feel until I lost my mother. It makes you realise the depth of loss and, even more, the value of love in your life. My mother, Zarine Khan, was a strong woman on the surface, yet incredibly soft on the inside. She led with kindness and compassion. Love was her way of life. No matter what chaos life brought her, she believed in showing up with her smile. She truly lived by the thought that the show must go on, through all the ups and downs”.
She further mentioned, “One story I clearly remember that portrays this so well goes back to the time when my father Sanjay Khan was hospitalised with severe third degree burns after a fire accident on the sets of his television serial ‘The Sword of Tipu Sultan’. The doctors gave my father barely a ten percent chance of survival, and only if we agreed to amputate his hands, but my mother refused. She believed that if he survived he would never forgive her for making that decision. She then made a conscious choice”.
She went on to say that her father was never supposed to know how critical his condition truly was. Her mother instructed her children to always be well dressed and to speak only of positive, happy things whenever they went to see him.
She continued, “She did the same herself. She showed up every single day dressed beautifully, carrying a big smile on her face, talking to him about “made up” trivial stories to distract him from his critical situation. And yet, every time she stepped out of his room, she would silently break down and cry. But she believed deeply that energy reacts to energy, and she was right. My father never realised how serious his condition was, because a patient reacts to the energy of those around him. My father survived. The very doctors who had given up on him later called him the ‘miracle man’. That miracle was my mother, her faith, her strength, and her unwavering decision to show up with a smile against all odds. The last few weeks have been the most heartbreaking of my life, because my mother wasn’t just my parent”.
She shared, “She was my best friend, my confidante, my go to person, my inspiration, and so much more. She was the one I turned to for every decision, because she never judged me, yet always assessed situations with a fair and unbiased mind. We spent so much time together. She was young at heart and loved to travel with me, making memories wherever we went. When she passed to the other side in a flash, her loss broke me into pieces. I felt as though I had lost the spark that lit my fire, and with it, the will to do anything at all. But today, I am reminded of her words to me”.
Zarine Khan was the wife of actor-filmmaker Sanjay Khan and mother of Sussanne Khan, Zayed Khan. She passed away on November 7, 2025 at the age of 81 following a cardiac arrest.
“No matter what you are going through in life, one must always dress up and show up with a smile. And so to all her family, friends, and those of you, whose lives she touched. It has been 40 days today since her passing, and it is time for us to return to life, because that is what your Zarine, my mother would want from us. It’s time to dress up, and show up with a smile like she always did. I also want to thank all my family, friends, and followers who showed such heartfelt support during this moment of immense grief. Some of you never met my mother yet felt her loss as deeply as I did. Some of you have never met me, yet reached out to console me. It is in times like these that you realise who will have your back. Life must go on, and so must I, because I have miles to go before I sleep. She may be gone from my sight, but never from my soul, and with her love, I will walk again. Rest in peace, my dearest angel mamma. I will be strong, just like you. Until we meet on the other side”, she added.
–IANS
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