Kiran Rao on her divorce with Aamir Khan, says 'I wanted to live independently'

Filmmaker and director Kiran Rao and actor Aamir Khan got divorced in 2021, ending their 15-year-long marriage. Despite parting ways, Aamir and Kiran continue to share a close bond and work together.

During herrecent interview with Brut, Kiran, who never shies away from putting forward her views, reflected on her marriage with Mr perfectionist, as she went on to discuss how marriage tends to be suffocating for a woman.

Talking about her marriage with Aamir, she said, ''Aamir and I lived together for about a year before we got married, and honestly, we did it more because of our parents. At that time too, we knew that it’s a great institution if you can function as an individual as well as a couple within that institution.''

Speaking about how a marriage tends to be more difficult for a woman, Kiran said, ''I think the thing that we don’t talk about enough is how marriage tends to stifle, especially women. There’s so much responsibility on the woman to run the house, to keep the family together… I took my sweet time so I didn’t have any worry about it.''

'It's very strong relationship as two humans. We are very connected to each other; we deeply respect and love each other,'' the Dhobi Ghat director said.

Kiran, who got married to Aamir in 2005, said she 'didn't fear' a divorce and wanted to live independently.

''I was not worried. I knew that I needed my space. I wanted to live independently, and I needed that to grow myself. I felt that it was for my own growth and Aamir acknowledged that as well and supported that… So I didn’t fear a divorce,” she said.

Kiran is currently basking in the success of her movie Laapataa Ladies. The movie was bankrolled by Aamir's production house. Starring Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Chhaya Kadam and Ravi Kishan, the movie earned Rs 20 crore (Rs 20 million) in a budget of Rs 4-5 crores (Rs 40-50 million).