There are some things that are better said late than never. Faissal Khan just said one of them.
Days before his brother Aamir Khan marries Gauri Spratt on July 5, Faissal has publicly apologised to Aamir, their mother, their sister Nikhat, and brother-in-law Santosh Hegde. He admitted that the allegations he made against his family in public were a mistake. He said the issues should have stayed within the family.
What he said and where he said it
Faissal spoke to YouTuber Ujjwal Trivedi. It was the first time he had openly acknowledged the fallout and taken responsibility for his role in it.
He did not ease into it. He named each person directly.
“I want to first apologise to my mother. And want to apologise to Nikhat. I want to apologise to Santosh. I also apologise to Aamir. In anger and pain, I said many things that I should never have said,” he said.
He did not try to explain or justify the allegations he had made earlier. He said those things were said in anger and pain and that they should not have been said at all. And, he said they should never have left the private space of the family.
No more right or wrong
Something in Faissal’s framing of this apology stands out. He is not saying the issues were small or that he was imagining things. He is saying that proving who was right no longer matters to him.
And, he said he no longer seeks answers. He no longer wants to establish who was at fault. And, he said he values peace with his family more than he values being seen as correct.
What brought him to this point
Faissal gave some detail about what moved him toward reconciliation. He said reading the Quran reinforced for him how important family bonds are and pushed him to take the first step.
At some point, he said, he looked at his situation and recognised that he had distanced himself from the people closest to him. He decided to call his sister Nikhat first. She picked up immediately.
He later found out that his mother had been missing him. That piece of information, he said, affected him deeply. The very next day, he flew to Mumbai.
What happened when he got there
He met his mother first and apologised to her. Then he met Aamir and asked for his forgiveness. He was specific about this in his conversation with Trivedi. He said he sought forgiveness for making family matters public.
Faissal said his family received him with warmth. His mother, Nikhat, Santosh, and Aamir all accepted his apology. He described it as the end of a long period of estrangement and misunderstanding.
Faissal said going forward he hopes his family will trust him, believe him, and understand him. He added that life is too short to carry old conflicts forward.
The timing
It would be difficult to talk about this apology without noting when it is happening. Aamir Khan is getting married to Gauri Spratt on July 5. The apology came in the days immediately before that.
Whether the timing was deliberate or coincidental is not something Faissal addressed.