'Not against any religion': Aamir Khan defends 'PK'
15 Jun 2025

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan has defended his 2014 film PK against allegations of promoting "love jihad" and targeting religion.

The movie, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, has been accused of disrespecting religious sentiments.

In an interview with India TV, Khan said the film was only meant to warn people about those who misuse religion for personal gain.

'We're not against any religion...': Khan
Film's intent

Khan said, "We're not against any religion. We respect all religions and all religious people."

He added, "That film just tells us to be cautious of those who exploit religion to fool the common man in order to extract money from them."

"You'll find people like that in every religion. That was the film's only purpose," he explained.

Khan on interfaith relationships
Personal defense

Khan also defended the film's portrayal of interfaith relationships. He asked if his daughters and sisters marrying Hindu men was love jihad.

His daughter Ira Khan is married to Nupur Shikhare, while his sisters Nikhat Khan and Farhat Khan have Hindu husbands, Santosh Hegde and Rajeev Dutta, respectively.

"This is just humanity. It's above religion," he said, referring to the film's love story between an Indian Hindu woman and a Pakistani Muslim man.

Names of his children
Name meanings

Khan also spoke about the names of his children. He said his first wife, Reena Dutta, named their first two kids, Junaid and Ira, while his second wife, Kiran Rao, named his third child, Azad.

"Let me tell you, Ira is another name for (goddess) Saraswati. Have you heard of Irawati? It's just that Reena wanted to pronounce it differently," he explained.

He added that Azad was named after Maulana Azad, a freedom fighter and India's first Education Minister post-independence.

Khan says proud to be a Muslim and Hindustani
Identity and initiatives

Khan expressed pride in his identity as a Muslim and an Indian.

He said, "I'm very proud I'm a Muslim. I'm also proud I'm a Hindustani. Both of these statements are true."

He highlighted his commitment to social issues regardless of religion, citing his TV show Satyamev Jayate and NGO Paani Foundation as examples.

He will next be seen in Sitaare Zameen Par, releasing on June 20.