Taimur row: FINALLY! Saif Ali Khan BREAKS SILENCE on the controversy

Saif Ali Khan has finally broken his silence on the controversy over Taimur's name, which broke out last month. Here's what he told a tabloid, "Social media just makes it clear what everybody is thinking in a sense. There is a lot of anonymity from the side of the people who are doing the talking so they feel free to say whatever they like, and sometimes they get very nasty... And that's fine. It doesn't mean that twenty, thirty or forty years ago people weren't thinking similar things but maybe they did not have an outlet then."

"As far as I am concerned, stars are privileged and our country is actually still very balanced," he added being thankful for the support that he and Kareena have received in recent weeks.

"People talk about the country becoming right-wing and fascist, and we have all these fears...but the fact of the matter is that if you view the kind of unnecessary drama over Taimur, there were a lot of voices... I felt I didn't have to say anything because a lot of people had spoken wisely and liberally. Voices that kind of vindicated my decision and made me feel that it's absolutely fine (to have the freedom to name his child as he wished to)," he said.

"Yes, there were some people who raised some objections but obviously just to look at medieval history and to make value judgments is, I think, ridiculous, and a lot of people have said that on my behalf. I feel quite confident that we don't live in a right-wing society. As yet, India is still liberal and people are still open minded," he said.

Kareena and he had no intention of offending anyone by naming their son, Taimur. “I'm aware of the heritage of the Turkish ruler and my son was not named after him. He was Timur, my son is Taimur. Perhaps the root is similar but it's not the same name.Taimur is an ancient Persian name meaning iron. Both my wife and I liked its sound and the meaning. In fact, of all the names I ran by Kareena, she liked this one the best because it's beautiful and strong," he said explaining that Taimur was the name of a boy he'd grown up with and a cousin too. 

"It's an old family name like Sara who was also named after a cousin I admired," he added.

The 46-year-old actor gets cheeky displaying his sense of humour adding, "Perhaps, I should have added a disclaimer, as they do in the movies, that any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental."