Meet Bollywood star whose father was Pakistani senior bureaucrat, Air Force pilot; he now has Indian citizenship, his name is..

Born in London on 15 August 1971, he came from a distinguished family with strong ties to both Pakistan and India. His father, a Pakistani Pashtun with Afghan roots, was a celebrated Pakistan Air Force pilot and later a senior diplomat who served as ambassador to 14 countries.

We are talking about Adnan Sami, the singer, composer, and pianist who started playing music at five and composed his first piece by nine. Trained in Indian classical music by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and mentored early by Asha Bhosle, Sami blended Indian and Western styles with ease.

Over his 32-year career, he’s won international recognition, including the Nigar, Bolan Academy, and Graduate Awards, and became the youngest recipient of the Naushad Music Award for Excellence in Music.

 

 

 

 

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About family background:

He comes from a distinguished lineage deeply rooted in military and administrative service. His father, Arshad Sami Khan, was a Pakistani Pashtun who served as a pilot in the Pakistan Air Force before moving on to become a senior bureaucrat and diplomat, representing Pakistan as ambassador to 14 countries.

His paternal great-great-grandfather, General Ahmed Jan, hailed from Afghanistan and was a military advisor to King Abdur Rahman Khan. His great-grandfather, Agha Mehfooz Jan, was the governor of four Afghan provinces under King Amanullah Khan and was also the King’s first cousin. Agha Mehfooz Jan was assassinated by Habibullah Kalakani, prompting the family to migrate to Peshawar, which was then part of British India. His grandfather, Abdul Sami Khan, continued the family legacy in service by holding the post of Deputy Inspector General of Police.

Personal life:

Sami's personal life has seen several marriages and significant events. He first married actress Zeba Bakhtiar in 1993, with whom he had a son, Azaan, but they divorced after three years. He moved to India in 2001 and married Sabah Galadari, but this marriage also ended after a year and a half.

In 2006, he weighed 230 kg and was given six months to live, but he lost 167 kg in 16 months through diet and exercise. Sami remarried Sabah in 2008, but they divorced again after a year.

In 2009, he lost his father to pancreatic cancer. On 29 January 2010, Sami married Roya Sami Khan, and they had a daughter, Medina, in 2017.

Sami applied for Indian citizenship in 2015, and it was approved in December 2015, making him an Indian citizen starting 1 January 2016.