Kabir was born to a Muslim father and a Telugu mother. His father Rasheeduddin Khan, who was a Pathan, hailing from Kaimganj in Farrukhabad district, Uttar Pradesh, and was a nephew of Dr. Zakir Hussain. Rasheeduddin was a communist politician favored by Indira Gandhi and was made a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha at a relatively young age, in the early 1970s. He was also a professor of political science, and in the early 1970s, he became one of the founding professors of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Kabir's mother, Leela, was a Hindu whose mother tongue was Telugu. Kabir has an elder sister, Anusheh, who is the wife of film-maker Vijay Krishna Acharya, director of films like Tashan and Dhoom 3. Anusheh is often erroneously referred to be "Anusha" but her correct name is "Anusheh," a name of Persian origin, and Anusheh has said in interviews that she wants her name to always be spelled correctly as per the Persian style. Kabir is married to former TV hostMini Mathur. They have two children Vivaan and Sairah. Kabir studied at Kirori Mal College of Delhi University, as well as Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi.
Film career
Khan started his career at age 25 as a cinematographer for the Discovery Channel documentary film Beyond the Himalayas directed by Gautam Ghosh. He then made his own directorial debut with the documentary The Forgotten Army based on Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army. He then directed two more documentaries before shifting his focus to mainstream cinema. Kabir debuted through Kabul Express which gained him Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director at the 54th National Film Awards. He then went on to direct two more films with Yash Raj Films, i.e. New York and Ek Tha Tiger. It was the later which gave him the taste of commercial success but the previous ones also did fairly well at the box office. After his 3-film deal ended with YRF, Kabir set up his production house through which he produced Bajrangi Bhaijaan. His most-successful film is Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which had been the third highest-grossing Indian film globally. The film garnered the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment at the 63rd National Film Awards. After the success of Bajrangi Bhaijaan, he directed Katrina Kaif and Saif Ali Khan in Phantom. Khan again collaborated with Salman Khan with Tubelight, official remake of Little Boy based on the Indo-Chinese war that debuted Chinese actress Zhu Zhu released on Eid 2017. The film met with negative reviews criticising the film for its incoherent script. Khan has signed Ranveer Singh to play Kapil Dev in his next sports biography '83 based on India's victory in 1983 Cricket World Cup, that will go on floors in early 2019. Kabir has recently wrapped up the shoot of an 5 episode long Amazon Prime Original based on Subhas Chandra Bose's Forgotten Army. He is directing and co-producing the series with Amazon. His next film is The Zookeeper, a Chinese-Indian film production. It is a travel-related drama film which is being shot in the Chinese city of Chengdu and the surrounding region. The film has an estimated budget of , and it will star a leading Indian actor and a leading Chinese actress.
