From choosing mental health work over films to embracing a quieter lifestyle, superstar Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta’s daughter Ira Khan in an interview talks about battling depression, how her parents are her support system and why she does not party with star kids.

Ira, who has faced body shaming and mental health struggles in the past, is clear about one thing — films are not her calling. While her brother (Junaid Khan) is already part of the film industry, Ira has chosen a different path and says her work with a NGO defines her career.

“I’ve been working full-time at a NGO for the past five years, with one break in the middle for my mental health. It is my career. I don’t want to pursue films,” she says.

Her decision stems from lived experience rather than rebellion. “After my experience with depression, there seems to be no point in doing anything else with my life. And I get to explore my creative side through the NGO as well.”

Ira credits her father Aamir Khan for shaping her values and work ethic. “I think there are some very helpful things that I have learnt from my dad that I am very grateful for. His work ethic is one of them. He’s always learning new things. The other thing that he’s taught me is to stay true to what I believe in.”

She adds, “I truly believe that if I were ever in trouble, I can always reach out to my parents — no hesitation and no shame.”

Unlike most celebrity kids, Ira doesn’t enjoy clubbing or loud social scenes. “I like to socialize. I don’t necessarily go out to clubs and party. It’s too loud, and there are too many people,” she explains. Her recovery from depression has changed her lifestyle and priorities. “Since my recovery journey through my depression, I’ve realized sleep is very important to me. So I don’t do late nights, but I socialize in my own way — karaoke at home, craft hang-outs, just hanging out at home.”

Ira says marriage with fitness coach Nupur Shikhare hasn’t dramatically altered her life. “Life after marriage has been pretty much the same as life before marriage. Which I think is a good thing,” she says, adding that the decision was well thought out.

“I mean, I made a thought-through decision, and we both knew what we were getting into and are very happy about our decision. Even Popeye’s (Nupur Shikhare) bad jokes.”

She also shares that living with her husband and mother-in-law has been smooth. “Life with my husband and mother-in-law has been good. As I said, we’d been living together for a while.”

Having spoken openly about her body image issues and personal complexes, Ira says fitness has now become part of her self-care. Participating in the Mumbai Marathon helped her restart that journey.

She says, “The Mumbai Marathon was definitely a great way for me to kickstart my fitness journey again. There was definitely a big selfish plus side of ‘Hey! This will mean I will have to get fit!’”

For years, the Khans have been a familiar sight at the Tata Mumbai Marathon, but always on the sidelines. Aamir Khan, with family and friends, would turn up before sunrise with posters, drinks, and loud encouragement for runners he knew and many he didn’t.

This year promises to change that. That’s thanks to Ira Khan, who didn’t just sign up as a fundraiser but also assembled one of the city’s most unexpected running crews: Her mother Reena Dutta, father Aamir, father’s ex-wife Kiran Rao, and Ira’s husband, Nupur Shikhare. They may be running in different categories, but there’s one undeniable thread tying them together, and that’s Ira’s refusal to let anyone off the hook.

The way she tells it, this wasn’t the result of any dramatic speech or emotional pitch. It began, instead, with what she calls being “bullied into it” by her husband, a long-time TMM participant.

“He kept telling me: ‘You have to walk the walk. You can’t keep standing on the sidelines,’” she said at the press conference. Ira, who loves football but admits to “dreading running long distances”, responded as most reluctant runners would, by flatly refusing.

“I told him, ‘I cannot do this run.’ He said, ‘Of course you can. You can do the Dream Run. Look at the categories and pick one.’”

Around the same time, the Agatsu Foundation, her two-and-a-half-year-old mental health community centre, signed up for TMM’s philanthropy programme. So did the Paani Foundation, run by her parents and Kiran Rao. Suddenly, the idea of showing up “only on Instagram” felt insufficient. “It felt like the right thing to do,” Ira said. “But also a very scary thing to do.”

One late-night Google search led her to the ‘Home Run Squad’ initiative, a category celebrating families that run together. “I thought, this is perfect,” she said. “Now I just had to convince my family.”

There was, by her admission, “a lot of cribbing” and a fair amount of confusion. The family group was flooded with questions like: “What happens if I don’t finish?” and the more existential, “What happens when I do finish?” Ira sidestepped all of it, sensing she was close to converting the sceptics. But once everyone tentatively agreed, she realised the danger wasn’t opposition, it was someone backtracking. That’s when she deployed what she now calls her “masterstroke”: Going public.

Before anyone could reconsider, Ira announced on social media that the entire family had officially joined the Home Run Squad. “I publicly announced it so no one could back out,” she said, half amused, half proud.

To cement the commitment, she created a WhatsApp group and added everyone. “It’s been very interesting to see all of us try to wake up at 7 am,” she laughed. “We’re all suffering together.”

Beyond humour and bonding, the marathon is serious business for Ira. Agatsu, which she set up after her own struggle with clinical depression, now sees nearly 1,200 people a month. The centre offers low-cost therapy, peer-support groups, movement classes, senior citizen hours, and, most importantly, a safe space where people can simply be.

“Mental health is hard to fundraise for because it’s not tangible. You can’t say you built 10 classrooms or vaccinated 200 children,” she said. “People don’t oppose donating; they often just don’t respond.”

As a first-time fundraiser, she’s now witnessed how much persistence and patience it takes. “A lot of people think I don’t need money because I come from a certain family, but Agatsu doesn’t run on assumptions.”

Filmmaker Kiran Rao was training hard to participate in the Mumbai Marathon this year. However, her preparations were unexpectedly interrupted when she had to undergo an appendectomy last month. But she will join thousands of Mumbaikars by walking in the marathon.

The Laapataa Ladies director, who was planning to participate in the Dream Run (6 km), says, “I had started training for the Dream Run to build endurance. Unfortunately, my appendectomy derailed my plans. My surgeon advised me not to exercise for a month post surgery. But I didn’t want to withdraw completely, so I decided to participate by walking instead. For me, it’s about showing up and being part of something meaningful. I plan to walk in the Dream Run, depending on how I feel on the day.”

She further adds, “The focus now is on recovery and gentle movement. I’m doing light walks, breathing exercises, and following a very cautious routine. It’s more about pacing myself, staying comfortable, and enjoying the experience rather than pushing any limits.” Kiran will participate alongside Aamir Khan and their son Azad. Ira and Junaid, along with Ira’s husband, Nupur Shikhare, will also join them.

Junaid will participate in the Open 10K category, while Aamir’s son-in-law, Nupur Shikhare, is set to run the gruelling 42K full marathon. “This has given us yet another reason to spend some time together, discuss our strategies to get fit and pretend to compete with each other. Everyone is very encouraging, and there’s a lot of positive energy, laughter, and shared excitement. All of them have been extremely supportive. They are the ones that keep reminding me that participation matters more than performance and that my health comes first,” Rao says.

Talking about why she decided to participate, she shares, “What motivates me most is the spirit of the marathon, the collective energy, the sense of purpose and the causes it supports. I also wanted to challenge myself physically and mentally. Most importantly, this time we as a family are running to support Paani Foundation, a non-profit that works in watershed management and sustainable agriculture in Maharashtra, as well as Agatsu Foundation, a non-profit for mental health.”

The Khan household is bustling with excitement as Ira Khan, daughter of Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta, is set to tie the knot with fiancé Nupur Shikhare in a traditional Maharashtrian-style wedding tomorrow. The pre-wedding ceremonies are on in full swing at the Bandra address. Today, the day will begin with a haldi ceremony being performed separately at the homes of the bride and groom. We hear an intimate mehendi function has been planned for the evening.

A source says, “The mehendi function will double up as a low-key sangeet ceremony, complete with music and dance. On January 3, the wedding will take place at Taj Lands End in Bandra, where it will begin with the ‘Antarpat’ ceremony. It involves a silk cloth being held between the bride and groom to keep them from seeing each other until the appropriate time. Before the wedding ceremony, a Ganpati puja will also be performed. As part of the rituals, there will be a special sankalp ceremony, where the bride and groom will read their vows.”

From January 4, the couple have lined up some personal parties, after which they will head out for a short holiday. They will, however, be back in time for their glitzy reception on January 11.

The source adds, “Aamir, Reena and the family were earlier planning to have the reception in Jaipur or Delhi [Beginning 2024 with a bang, Dec 30]. But now, they intend to host it in Mumbai. The guest list is star-studded, with over 1,000 people expected to attend—from Aamir’s B-Town friends to important dignitaries.”

Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta’s daughter Ira Khan is set to tie the knot with fiancé Nupur Shikhare on January 3, 2024. Now we hear that after the ceremony, the two will host a reception on January 13 in Mumbai.

Says a source, “It is going to be a grand affair. Aamir is personally inviting people from the film industry for the reception. It will be attended by the who’s who of the film fraternity, right from the younger lot of actors to the seniors.”

Ira and Nupur will have a court wedding on January 3, post which they will go to Udaipur for a destination wedding.

The source adds, “It will be a three-day intimate affair (January 8 to 10) and the festivities will include their friends and extended family members.”

In an earlier chat with BT, Ira, who got engaged to Nupur, also her fitness trainer in 2022 had opened up about her marriage plans. She had said, “We know that we want to get married on January 3, but which year… we haven’t decided on that (laughs!). January 3 is very special for us as that’s the date when we first kissed.”

On World Mental Health Day yesterday, Ira Khan posted a video on her Instagram that featured her with her father as the two spread awareness and break the taboo around the subject.

In the video, Aamir Khan said, “Zindagi mai aise bahut se kaam hai jo hum khud nahi kar pate, jismai hume kisi aur vyakti ki madad lagti hai jo woh kaam janta hai. Aur aise faisle hum badi asani se le lete hai baigair kisi sharam ke, baigair kisi jhijak ke.”

Ira Khan added, “Jab humay mansik ya jasbati madad ki zaroorat padti hai, toh hume aise vyakti ke paas jana chahiye, isi asani se bina jhijak, jo humari madad kar sakta hai. Trained hai, professional hai.”

Aamir Khan revealed that he and Ira, have been taking up therapy. “Aur dosto meri beti, Ira, aur mai pechle kayi salon se therapy ka laabh utha rahe hai. Aur agar aapko lagta hai ki aap bhi mansik ya jazbati taklefo se guzar rahe hai, koi tension hai, koi stress hai, koi takleef hai toh aap bhi ek aise vyakti ko dhund sakte hai jo professional hai, trained hai, jo aapki madad kar sakta hai, ismai koi sharam nahi hai,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ira, who under her Agatsu Foundation has been conducting activities for the betterment of mental wellbeing for people, had earlier opened up about her mental health in detail. Calling her depression partly genetic, she had told us, “Every 10 months, I have a very big (emotional and mental) crash. It happened in July 2022 last. On one hand, I have been championing other people’s mental health (through her organization), but I have supreme amounts of stigma for my own mental health.”

Ira shared that having a strong support system is very important in such cases. “Self-awareness, communication, resilience and if everything else fails where you can’t take therapy, you can’t take medicine then human connections work,” she says, thanking her friends circle and parents who understand her and is glad to have an amazing fiancé, who’s also her gym trainer.

She says, “I go to both my parents for help. I also turn to Kiran (Rao) Aunty. In fact, I have made a group with all three of them (on WhatsApp). And when it comes to Popeye (her partner Nupur Shikhare), he has the emotional bandwidth to spend time on me. He hasn’t randomly said yes to things he is not interested in doing. Being there for someone takes time and energy. It takes a certain level of commitment. Because during this (mental crisis) I am not going to properly be able to articulate what I am feeling for a while until I figure it out for myself. So, I feel very lucky to have him by my side who wanted to invest in trying to understand what I was going through.”

Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta’s daughter, Ira Khan, is all set to tie the knot with fiancé Nupur Shikhare on October 3. The two got engaged in November last year. Sharing more details about the big development in her life, a source close to Ira tells us that she is all set to have a court wedding with Nupur on October 3. The festivities will then move to Udaipur in Rajasthan.

The source shares, “The couple has planned an elaborate wedding ceremony in Udaipur. It’s a three-day affair, and the festivities will include their friends and extended family members. This one, too, will be an intimate affair minus the presence of any people from the film industry,” adding, “The father of the bride (Aamir) is extremely excited and is closely involved with the planning.”

Earlier, in an interview with us, Ira had spoken about how she met Nupur, who is a fitness trainer, and hit it off with him. She had said, “Popeye (as she fondly calls him) began training me when I was 17. I saw him as this super fit human, whose physical capabilities I aspired to have. Steadily, we became friends and later, we started dating.”

We have been taught that if you brush your teeth, you won’t get cavities, but nobody taught us what we should do to keep our minds healthy,” points out Ira Khan, as she gives us a tour of her community centre located at a quaint bungalow in Bandra. The 25-year-old, who is Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta’s daughter, talks to us about her personal battle with mental health and how she wants to champion this cause for the rest of her life.

Sharing how it all began she says, “While growing up, my mind decided that to be loved, I need to be a slightly broken person. I made this perception by watching a lot of movies. I remember being as young as 8 or 10 years old and telling myself to fake a smile to repress my feelings, so that I grew up being slightly broken, because I believed that only then people will love me. So, I systematically made sure that I turned out to be a depressed person.”

Ira has a history of battling mental health issues and has been vocal about it. She has been undergoing treatment for cyclic depression, “Depression is a little complicated. It is partly genetic, partly psychological, and social. In my case, it is partly genetic. There is a history of mental health issues in my family on my mom and dad’s side,” says Ira.

“My therapist said that one of the trigger points was my parents, who handled their divorce as well as they could at that point. It was amicable. I am not blaming them, but what they didn’t realise is that because they made it seem like divorce was not a big deal, there was a perception my mind created of the situation. We create perceptions and we don’t necessarily communicate to people about those. So, I blame myself for my depression. I spent 20 years thinking that you have to be sad for people to love you. But now how do I go back? I want to be happy! So now, I have to systematically undo everything that I have done,” says Ira.

Talking about her support system, Ira says, “I reach out to both my parents for help. I also turn to Kiran (Rao) aunty. In fact, I have made a phone chat group with all three of them. And when it comes to Popeye (fiancé Nupur Shikhare), he has the emotional bandwidth to spend time with me. Being there for someone takes time and energy. It takes a certain level of commitment. So, I feel very lucky to have someone like him in my life, who wanted to invest in trying to understand what I was going through.”

Before she turned her focus to her foundation Agatsu that helps people battling mental health issues, Ira had a tryst with showbiz. She was an AD on Sonakshi Sinha-starrer web show Dahaad. But she’s not interested in pursuing a career in the movies. “Agatsu (which means self-victory) is my full-time job. At the centre, we have a neuroscience workshop, mental health hour, youth peer meet, dance classes, games evening & other activities spread across the week for people to de-stress and engage in. I am not doing anything else, but this for the rest of my life. I truly appreciate storytelling through films, but there are a lot of other people who can do that, I don’t have to do it!”

She adds, "Why should one wait till he/she absolutely cannot bear it (mental stress) any more and then ask for help? Why can’t one just fix it when it is even a little bit problematic? Self-awareness, communication, resilience is important, and if everything else fails where you can’t take therapy, or you can’t take medication, then human connections work."

Ira got engaged to her trainer of many years, Nupur Shikhare (who she lovingly calls Popeye) last November. Talking about their marriage plans, she says, “We know that we want to get married on January 3, but which year... we haven’t decided on that (laughs!). January 3 is very special for us as that’s the date when we first kissed.”