Fardeen Khan’s debut movie, Prem Aggan, won the Filmfare Award for Best Debut, but it was a box office disaster. His father, Late Firoz Khan, produced and directed it.
In a recent interview with Mashable India, Fardeen revealed that he had to return nearly a crore rupees to people as Prem Aggan had tanked at the box office.
“When my first film didn’t work, I had to return lots of money. People wrote me off, and I was out of work and had to return nearly a crore rupees. This is in 1998. I have returned that money very badly (laughs). I had to write cheques and give it back to people,” Fardeen said.
The actor’s career took a slight take-off with Jungle and Pyar Tune Kya Kiya, both released in 2000 and produced by Ram Gopal Varma. However, his career again nose-dived with critical and commercial failures like Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega, Ham Ho Gaye Aapke, Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Ham Kahen, Khushi, etc. The next few years saw Fardeen delivering back-to-back commercial flops, severely hitting his career. However, it wasn’t over yet.
In 2005, Anees Bazmee’s comedy-drama again catapulted Fardeen Khan into the limelight. His character, Sunny “Shekhar” Wani, drew praise. But then again, Fardeen had to see some flops, and his hits came only alongside other stars like Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar.
In 2009, Fardeen Khan starred alongside Ajay Devgn in All the Best, a comedy-drama directed by Rohit Shetty. It remains Fardeen’s last Bollywood hit movie. After that, he did Dulha Mil Gaya, a romantic comedy alongside Sushmita Sen, with a special appearance from Shah Rukh Khan. The film was a box-office flop, and Fardeen took a sabbatical from acting for nearly 13 years.
He marked his return with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s web series Heeramandi, which was released on Netflix and received mixed reviews from critics. Fardeen also returned to films with Akshay Kumar’s Khel Khel Mein, released on August 15, 2024. He also had an OTT release, Visfot, starring alongside Ritesh Deshmukh. The film was produced by Sanjay Gupta and directed by Kookie Gulati. His upcoming movie is Devil: The Hero.
