The mother of all punchlines

Soha Ali Khan learnt how powerful laughter could be from her parents. Now, she and husband Kunal Khemu are teaching their daughter Inaaya the same tricks. See how the family gets its laughs, and where they draw the line

- Karishma Kuenzang

Where does humour come from, exactly? Actor Soha Ali Khan prefers wordplay. But her husband, actor Kunal Khemu, and their six-year-old daughter, Inaaya, love slapstick comedy: Slipping on banana peels, dad jokes, pulling faces, tickling for 20 minutes straight. “Their maturity level is the same," says Khan. Dad and daughter will replace lyrics with words of their own and find it hilarious. "I just look at them, thinking it's so sweet, but also thinking 'Really? You're still laughing? After 25 minutes?"".

But the tide is turning. Inaaya still loves tickles but she's started figuring out punchlines and verbal humour from her mum. The child's current favourite joke: She'll ask her mum her name, then she'll point to her nose and ask what it's called. Once she's got "Soha" and "nose", she'll gleefully announce, "Soha nose nothing"! As the world celebrates Mother's Day (May 12) hit pause on those odes to selflessness, sacrifice and sleep deprivation, and see the funny side of being a mom. Six years in, Soha certainly is laughing harder.

Prepare for mix-ups.

Inaaya has spelled cricket with a K and match without the silent T. As a baby, she'd say "gib" and "molls" for big and small. Khan and Khemu tried to correct her. "We realised that she would eventually say it right and this phase would be over. So, we let it be," Khan says.

They've shot videos of every cute fumble and emailed it to an account they've created for her when she grows up.

It's a smart move. Because Inaaya has figured out how to use tech, but not how to draw boundaries. She once sent pictures of Khan to people Khan worked with, but was not close to.

She also once sent a voice note, saying "I love you" to someone. "Thank God that person knew I have a child and didn't reply, or the joke would have been on me. It would have been embarrassing to explain," says Khan.

Stomach it all.