Saif Ali Khan always had a reputation to live up to. Even before he was born his father had proved that he was one of the most charismatic cricket captains India has had and his mother was the face of Satyajit Ray’s genius. Hence having it all, elegance, élan, style and appeal, in his genes all Saif had to do was to live up to this reputation. After initial hiccups he is doing just that.

Be it the urbane yuppy boy of Dil Chahta Hai or the rustic ‘Bahubali’ of Omkara, saif has proven himself to be good at both ends of the spectrum. But his journey didn’t began from that point.

Born on 16 August 1970 in New Delhi to Nawab of Pataudi, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore, Saif has bluest of blue blood flowing in his veins. Despite being the son of the most celebrated cricket player of his time, Saif showed initial affinity towards the ‘finer art’ that his mother mastered. He was set to make his debut opposite Kajol in Bekhudi in 1992 but it didn’t worked out.

His Bollywood launch vehicle was Parampara, a thoroughly forgetful film and he followed it up with more or less the same kind of films with same on screen swagger (was never required) and even the hair style. He made the mistake of going for quantity instead of quality and paid the price. As a side kick to Akshay Kumar he tasted some success in Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Yeh Dillagi and few other flicks, but he was never able to stamp his authority on screen till Farhan Akhtar offered him Dil Chahta hai in 2001.

Dil Chahta Hai was one of those films that came once in a while and he along with the rest of the crew and co-actors got the much deserved accolades. Nobody needed it more than Saif. This one film turned his career upside down.

Box office smash hits such as Kal Ho Na Ho (2003) followed and what more he also got his a ‘solo hero’ hits with Hum Tum (2004) and Salaam Namaste (2005). Now even critics were smiling, as after every commercial flick there was a Being Cyrus (2006) and Ek Hasina Thi (2004), both thoroughly dark and intense films where Saif excelled in negative roles.

Parineeta (2005) drove the ‘bankable actor’ tag home but it was his performance in Omkara as ‘Langda Tyagi’ (based on Shakespeare’s immortal villain Iago) that made the world sit up and notice him. He took home the Best Villain award from all possible award ceremonies including the Star Screen Awards, Filmfare Awards and Zee Cine Awards. Now Saif was able to justify his genes. In the recent past Race (2008) has further enhanced his aura in the film industry.

He married actress Amrita Singh, 12 years his senior, in October 1991 After thirteen years of marriage and two children, a daughter named Sara and a son named Ibrahim, the couple divorced in 2004. Amrita got the custody of the children. Saif was then romantically involved with Italian beauty Rozza Catalano, with whom he broke up in 2007. He is currently dating Bollywood’s reigning queen Kareena Kapoor.