JE T'AIME’: Saif Ali Khan can say it in French to lady love Kareena Kapoor

Tanaya Bhaduri: “Saif is very obedient”

If Saif Ali Khan can say “je t’aime” (I love you) to Kareena Kapoor just right, it’s all thanks to a Calcutta girl in his life. His French tutor, Tanaya Bhaduri.

A “decent” teaching job is all that Tanaya had in mind when leaving for Mumbai six years ago — what she had never dreamt of was having a Bollywood hottie on her rolls.

For the past one year, Saif has been learning French from the 26-year-old, whom he calls “Ma’am”.

“Saif took up French to kill time when he was resting at home under doctor’s advice about a year ago…. I got a call from his secretary one morning. The only condition was that I had to take the classes in his Lokhandwala residence. The next day, I taught him for an hour,” recounts Tanaya, back home in Lake Gardens for a holiday.

A graduate in French from Burdwan University’s Duplex College, Tanaya went to Mumbai to find a teaching job but ended up starting her own tuition classes. Several school students, pilots and models — including Dipannita Sharma — have signed up, but Tanaya is most impressed by the Chhote Nawab.

“Saif picks up words very fast. We started with the alphabets and now he can speak French pretty fluently. He is a very obedient student…. One morning I found Saif in a crushed kurta pyjama, his hair dishevelled, a confused look on his face.

“When I asked him what the matter was, he said, ‘Oh Ma’am, actually I haven’t been able to do the homework you had given me last night. I am trying hard to finish it, I even skipped breakfast.’ I was so touched,” smiles Tanaya.

Despite his busy schedule, the star whose first home production Love Aaj Kal releases this Friday, finds time to polish his French — possibly to romance Bebo right.

“We don’t have any fixed classes as Saif keeps travelling. These days, he calls me over to his new Bandra house when he is free,” reveals Tanaya.

Raised in the French colony of Chandernagore, Tanaya showed a flair for the language when it was made a part of her school curriculum.

“I studied at Krishnabhabani Nari Shiksha Mandir where French was my third language. I liked it so much that I took it up as my first language in Class XI and XII. Then I did my BA (hons) in French from Duplex College,” says the daughter of thumri singer Prabhati Mukherjee.