Do we like Imran Khan?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent and on the right side with no harm found, but the public record is thin and his current legal fight is unresolved.
Imran Khan was a Bollywood golden boy for a few years. He debuted in 2008 with Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, produced by his uncle Aamir Khan, and became an overnight star. Delhi Belly and a run of romcoms followed, then some films that didn't land and a long step back from acting.
He came back in January 2026 with a cameo in Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos, and the way he talked about it was refreshingly low-ego. He told Outlook he wasn't trying to be the biggest star or in the top three, just to make films for the joy of it. A Netflix romcom, Adhure Hum Adhure Tum, is reported as his next lead, though release dates have shifted around.
The messy bit is October's protest in Mumbai against the Chief Election Commissioner. Police detained him, and Mumbai Police then issued a Leave India Notice, saying he took part despite not being an Indian citizen. He said he had no demands and was there as a citizen who lives in the city, while his lawyers have argued he was merely passing through.
He has challenged the notice in the Bombay High Court. On 27 October the court kept it in abeyance until a 2 November hearing, after the foreigners' registration office assured it he wouldn't have to leave before then. We couldn't find the result of that hearing, so treat this as unresolved. Where you land probably depends on whether you see it as a visitor breaking the rules or a resident exercising a voice.
On the harm check, we found nothing nasty in his words or deeds. At Harvard's India Conference in 2016 he said he was not proud of how his industry portrays the LGBTQ community, and called it a matter of human rights and civil liberties. Nothing on trans people specifically turned up, and his recent work is with Aamir Khan's company, Vir Das and Netflix, which is not a worrying list.
The honest caveat is that there isn't a huge public record here. He's been out of the spotlight for years, so there is less to judge than for someone who's constantly in the news. What is there points the right way.