‘Nobody should name their child Taimur: Vivek

Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan named their first son Taimur and it created a lot of stir. To give context, Timur invaded Delhi in 1398, when the Tughlaq dynasty was in decline. Saif and Kareena faced widespread backlash after naming their firstborn Taimur, and have both admitted that they briefly considered changing it due to the uproar. Now in the recently released trailer of ‘The Bengal Files’, people thought that film-maker Vivek Agnihotri has taken a jibe at Saif and Kareena naming their son ‘Taimur’. In a recent interview, Agnihotri clarified that he wasn’t targeting anyone personally, but asserted that no Indian should choose to name their child after what he described as a “murderous invader.” Speaking on The Raunac Show, Agnihotri was asked if the reference in his trailer was aimed at Saif and Kareena’s son. He replied, “A lot of people are named Taimur. (Saif) wasn’t the first person to name his child Taimur. Let me explain. When I went to shoot The Tashkent Files in Samarkand, I visited Taimur’s tomb. Outside it, it is written, ‘He conquered the richest sultanate in the world.’ This was the Delhi Sultanate. They were about to give him the title of Emperor, but he refused, and said that he wouldn’t accept it until he conquers Delhi.” Agnihotri added, “He massacred one lakh people in one night. He went on a killing spree from Delhi to Kashmir. He raped and pillaged along the way. Yes, he is a hero in his country; he is a great man. But he isn’t to us. Of course nobody should name their child Taimur. It shouldn’t even be a question.”Back in 2016, in a conversation with Delhi Times, Saif revealed that he had almost gone through with changing his son’s name. “I thought for a second about changing his name. For a couple of weeks. And Kareena was a little against it. She said, ‘People respect you for your opinion and you can’t’… So I said, yeah, but it’s not about people. I don’t want him to get unpopular. And I still might, maybe when he’s one or two, I might change his name in a while, it’s still sinking in, what to do,” he had said.Kareena too addressed the controversy last year in a chat with Miss Malini. “Of course it affected me that people were talking about Taimur’s name. He probably doesn’t even know about the drama around his name. But, he also received lots of love for the fact that people were so interested in him. And I was like, ‘But, why?’ because people don’t know him and he is small. I think now, he will slowly understand. He is understanding that there is a whole culture where people follow him or he is being clicked,” she shared.