Why Saif Ali Khan's sisters Saba and Soha didn't attend his wedding with Amrita Singh: 'The principal called us...'

When Saif Ali Khan married actor Amrita Singh in 1991, his younger sisters Soha Ali Khan and Saba Pataudi, then just 13 and 15, were not told directly. Instead, they found out along with the rest of the public, after the news broke in newspapers.

Speaking on a podcast with Neha Dhupia and Angad Bedi, Saba recalled that the marriage happened while she and Soha were still in school. Their parents contacted the school directly, calling the sisters to the principal's office to instruct them not to discuss the reports circulating in the press, since even the family was still confirming the details. “We got a call in the principal’s office from the parents saying you won’t tell anyone anything. We don’t know how real the news is because it was in the newspapers by then. So we were told that we shouldn’t tell anyone," says Saba.

Soha added that their young age meant they were largely excluded from the events surrounding the wedding, noting that she first heard about it from a teacher rather than a family member.

Saif's mother, actor Sharmila Tagore, learned of the marriage directly from her son. She once said on Koffee with Karan, that she immediately sensed something was different when he came to speak with her, later admitting to feeling emotionally shaken by the news, though she asked to meet Amrita afterward. “He said, ‘I have something to tell you’, and then he told me. I don’t know what I was doing, but I was quiet, and he says, ‘Amma, your colour is changing, you are looking different.’ I said, ‘Well okay, we will talk about it later, not now’. After he left, I rang Tiger and told him. There was also a long silence there. We left it at that and then I said, ‘I would like to meet her’,”

Saif has since said that his mother had specifically asked him to hold off on marrying, only to learn the ceremony had already taken place by the time he told her. He has described her reaction as one of hurt, primarily over not having been informed beforehand.

Saif and Amrita's marriage lasted 13 years before ending in divorce in 2004. They have two children, Sara Ali Khan and Ibrahim Ali Khan. Saif later married Kareena Kapoor in 2012, with whom he has two sons, Taimur and Jeh. Amrita has not remarried.