May 31, 2026 1:21pm IST
Mansoor Khan On Preferring Life on A Farm Over Mumbai: ‘I’m Always Happy To Return To Coonoor’ (EXCLUSIVE)
With films like “Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak” (1988), “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar” (1992), “Akele Hum Akele Tum” (1995) and “Josh” (2000), Mansoor Khan seemed poised to carry forward the legacy of his father, legendary filmmaker Nasir Hussain. But Mansoor’s heart always found solace in the vagaries of the sea, the mystery of music and abandoned landscapes. ““I wanted to be a vagabond. That’s why my heroes are like that,” says the engineering graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who last co-produced “Ek Din,” which starred his nephew Junaid Khan and Sai Pallavi, with Aamir Khan Productions.
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Nomad at heart
The desire to move away from city life was always there, “even when I went to the U.S for MIT,” says Mansoor Khan, adding, “We bought a plot of land in Mandwa in 1991 because I was sure I wanted to give up films. I enjoyed being there. By 1997, my land in Mandwa (coastal village in Raigad) was being acquired by the government for a proposed international airport. Mandwa did not work out and so, I shifted to Coonoor (Tamil Nadu) in 2003.”
At peace in the wild
The filmmaker-author, who now lives in Coonoor, had an organic cheese-making farm, Acres Wild, for almost two decades. About living on a farm, he shares, “There are a lot of species there. We have elephants and leopards coming in along with ducks, chickens and geese. They all co-exist. Elephants go down to the plains, but return. The leopard is actually a timid cat. In fact, the elephant is far more dangerous than a leopard. Our guests have seen the leopard drinking water at night from the pots kept for them.”
Life in Coonoor
Khan, who even ran a farmstay there with his wife Tina, shares, “We ran a farm stay between 2010 and 2022. I spent time with the guests because it’s a home-stay, not a resort. I’d have breakfast with them and share conversations. Music is a deep passion, so I’d tell them about the music I’d composed. I play instruments, too. We even began cheese-making courses. Tina taught cheese-making to about 250 people. We closed the farmstays in 2022 as I needed time to write. Now, we’ve moved to another house in Coonoor.”
Indoors in Mumbai
His visits to Mumbai are often to meet his family. “I miss them. Luckily, they all live in Pali Hill (Bandra). From my window, I can see their apartments. Aamir’s flat, Reena’s (Dutta, ex-wife of Aamir) house, my sister Nuzhat’s apartment… My rule is I stay indoors. The most I do is walk across to Aamir’s house or Imran’s (nephew Imran Khan’s) house. I don’t drive around in Mumbai because I don’t want to get into a jam and honk at drivers. I’m always happy to go back to Coonoor. More than me, Tina is.”
Elaborating on his wife’s love for their life in Coonoor, he says, “Some years back, I was feeling low. We had to live off the farm income. There were expenses. So, one day I told Tina that we should go back to Mumbai. She said, ‘Fine, you go. I am staying here.’”
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