Jun 24, 2026 5:45pm IST
‘Ganga Mai Ki Betiyan’ Actor Sheizaan Khan: ‘I Know The Struggles Of Growing Up Without A Father’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Sheizaan Khan and Amandeep Sidhu’s “Ganga Mai Ki Betiyan” has upstaged “Vasudha” to take the top spot in the TRP charts. Khan, who plays Siddhanth Singh (Sidhu) in the show, was far from being euphoric on hearing the news. He got the validation he needed from the only person that matters. He tells Variety India, "I did not feel happy for myself. I just called my mother and asked her if my family and she were proud of me. She said yes. This is the only validation I need.”
The consistent success of “Ganga Mai Ki Betiyan” has brought Khan back in the reckoning. His career suffered after the demise of his former girlfriend Tunisha Sharma in 2022. Khan found it difficult to get work with producers worried about being caught up in the legal complications he was facing.
Ignoring the travails surrounding the low phase in his life, he motivated himself by telling himself “that whenever life puts you down, the only way left is going up. This TRP ranking feels like a reward from the audience towards my work. My work should speak on my behalf,” he says.
Related Stories
Like his onscreen character, Sidhu, Khan says he too is very close to his mother. “Sidhu bows down to his mother and I too am very close to my mom. When he meets Sneha (Amandeep Sidhu), he sees a girl who loves her mother as much as he loves his. This builds their bond,” he adds.
In ‘Ganga Mai Ki Betiyan,’ the character of Shubhangi Latkar (Ganga) raises her three daughters single-handedly after being abandoned by her husband. Khan, too, grew up in a single-parent household with his mom providing for his sisters and him. Discussing the kind of prejudice children from single-parent homes still experience in small-town India, he feels the show addresses it very well. Amandeep Sidhu plays Sneha Sharma, the eldest daughter of Ganga who is now married to Khan's character (Sidhu).
Khan elaborates, “We did not grow up with a father. I have seen my sister (Falaq Naaz) doing everything on her own from learning how to drive to providing for the household. I have experienced the emotional days when things feel truly heavy. I feel the makers beautifully established Sneha's (Amandeep Sidhu) character by showing her strength and resilience. I believe women are truly powerful creating a home, family and happiness for those they love. Sneha is a complex character but she made audiences feel her emotions. There are many who might not understand the complexities of such homes but if a story is told with the right intent it works.”
He recounts when Tunisha Sharma’s family had filed charges against him, putting a sudden halt to his career. “I am not going to shy about it. It was tough, especially when I missed ‘Khatron Ke Khiladi.’ People would want to speak to my lawyer even before even narrating a role. I think I made a good decision to take up cameo roles. I believe work gets you more work. I did not stop taking up shows because my character was a cameo. I told myself that I had to show up, do my best and walk out with my head held high.”
Khan later reveals how he was taking heavy doses of anti-depressants that would make him sleep for almost four days at one go. He said his face was swollen when he first came on the sets of ‘Ganga Mai’ and Amandeep asked him what was wrong. “I told her I had gained weight for my earlier role when in reality, it was because of my medication. But then, no matter how low I am feeling, I will always show up as long as I am alive,” Khan shares.
He says as an actor he enjoys the complexities of Sidhu as a son and a devoted lover. For him, Sidhu has grown up adoring his mom, now he has fallen in love with Sneha and it is a huge shift in his life. But as Khan admits, "Sidhu is not a perfect man, neither am I. I do not know much about love. While I am unsure if love is meant for eternity, I know that love means choosing the same person over and over again.”
Sheizaan Khan is also a huge “Modern Family” fan. He says he would love to be the part of an Indianized version of the same, if and when it gets made.
Comments are moderated. They may be edited for clarity and reprinting in whole or in part in Variety publications.