Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan have announced their divorce after 15 years of marriage.

Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan plain-spoken statement assures that they will continue collaborating on work and pet projects.

Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan, one of Indian cinema’s power couples, announced their separation in a joint statement on Saturday.

“In these 15 beautiful years together we have shared a lifetime of experiences, joy and laughter, and our relationship has only grown in trust, respect and love. Now we would like to begin a new chapter in our lives — no longer as husband and wife, but as co-parents and family for each other,” said Rao and Khan, who have a son, Azad, together.

Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan’s marriage, which took place on December 28, 2005, has been one of Indian cinema’s most creative unions.

They met on the set of Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan (2001), one of India’s most commercially successful films, where the former served as an assistant director. Their romance blossomed later, Khan said in interviews, when the actor was going through the legal separation process from his first wife, Reena Dutta. Khan and Dutta, who have a son named Junaid and a daughter named Ira, are divorcing.

Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan Statement

Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan’s plain-spoken statement assures that they will continue collaborating on work and pet projects. “We began a planned separation some time ago, and now feel comfortable to formalise this arrangement, of living separately yet sharing our lives the way an extended family does. We remain devoted parents to our son Azad, who we will nurture and raise together. And we will also continue to work as collaborators on films, Paani Foundation, and other projects that we feel passionate about,” they said. Announcing Azad’s birth in 2011, the former couple had shown similar forthrightness when they mentioned that he was born after “a long wait” and “through IVF-surrogacy”.

“A big thank you to our families and friends for their constant support and understanding about this evolution in our relationship, without whom we would not have felt so secure in taking this leap,” they said at the end of their statement. We ask for good wishes and blessings from our well-wishers, and hope that, like us, you will see this divorce as the beginning of a new journey.”

With the extended Khan family, including Dutta, celebrating many special occasions together over the years, this doesn’t seem too unlikely.

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