Cinema VinesMore than a year after a violent intruder stormed his Bandra flat, actor Saif Ali Khan has spoken publicly about how the attack continues to haunt him. In an interview with the Bombay Times, the 50‑year‑old revealed that while his family managed to recover relatively quickly, he still feels the sting of the night whenever a knife is in sight.
“We have dealt with it remarkably well,” Khan said. “I think the person most affected was my wife, who is generally a very sensitive person. We kind of got over it quite quickly. It was insane, though. I am still not 100% over it because if I see a knife, it just makes me react.” The actor, who is currently starring in the film Haiwaan, added that the knife’s breakage during the assault may have saved his life.
The incident unfolded on the early morning of January 16, 2025. An intruder entered the 12th‑floor apartment through a fire escape and confronted Eliyama Philip, the nurse caring for Kareena Kapoor Khan’s four‑year‑old son. After demanding ₹1 crore and threatening her, the attacker turned on Saif when the couple rushed to the room. Khan sustained six stab wounds, including a serious injury to his thoracic spinal cord, and a 2.5‑inch fragment of the blade was lodged in his spine. He underwent emergency surgery at Lilavati Hospital and was discharged five days later.
Despite the trauma, Khan described a strange calm during the assault. “I was covered in blood, but I felt strangely calm. I looked back at my life with gratitude, thinking about how much of it had been a privilege and, as I put it, a ‘blast.’ Death itself did not frighten me in that moment. I was even at peace with the idea of letting go, as long as I could hold someone’s hand. What scared me was the possibility of surviving but being left paralysed,” he said.
When asked about the knife itself, Khan remarked that it was “the worst knife in the history of knife attacks.” “If he had a proper Rambo knife, I’d be dead. You poke, it can go anywhere. I was cut everywhere, but it didn’t kill me. I can’t get over how lucky I was,” he added, underscoring the narrow escape that has left him with lasting psychological scars.
