Saif Ali Khan says dad Tiger Pataudi’s silence at parties would ‘exasperate’ mom Sharmila: ‘People less informed spoke’
4 min readKolkataMay 21, 2026 01:34 PM IST Saif Ali Khan was in his mother and veteran actor Sharmila Tagore’s hometown Kolkata to honour his father and legendary cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi at the Tiger Pataudi Memorial Lecture 2026. The actor, joined by seasoned English cricketer Sir Ian Botham at the event, spoke fondly of how reserved yet assured his late father was. “At home, he rarely spoke about achievements. He rarely spoke about anything. My mother would be exasperated at dinners and get togethers with people less informed than him would be giving their opinion. He would say no one asked me, but he wouldn’t speak, because no one asked him. It was a very different brand of confidence,” Saif recalled during the commemorative lecture. Tiger Pataudi died at the age of 70 in 2011. Pataudi didn’t just keep the self-belief to himself, but believed in instilling it in his fellow cricketers as well. “He believed in belief — instilling self belief in Indian players who had never before been told they could …
