Sweta Kaushal
You may have been following his art and life from Chanakya (1992) days where he played Senapati Bhadrashal, or you may have noticed Irrfan a little later in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s 2003 college drama Haasil.
By the time he did Maqbool (2004), he gained the status of a respectable and dependable artist who could enrich a film even with a handful of scenes. With Paan Singh Tomar’s (2011) release, it increasingly became clear that Irrfan could carry a film beautifully and strongly on his own shoulders, providing a depth and uniqueness to its execution.
By adding films like The Namesake, Yeh Saali Zindagi and Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster to his oeuvre, he became critics’ favourite.
Any list of best works of the actor extraordinaire will also include names like Chandrakanta and Banegi Apni Baat, and yet these TV projects showed only a glimpse of the master actor he would later turn into.
Irrfan’s journey in showbiz is nothing short of an adventure where he ventured into unchartered territories with an unparallelled confidence. For him the boundaries of west, east and beyond never existed as he worked with equal ease in international and Indian projects.
Here’s a look at some of his lesser-known projects:
Doob, No Bed of Roses (2017): Ahead of Qarib Qarib Singlle, a home production for Irrfan which featured him in a rather light and romantic role, Irrfan was seen in this Bangladesh-India co-production – Doob No Bed of Roses. Irrfan played the lead role of Javed Hasan, an acclaimed filmmaker from Bangladesh and the story revolves around his family, love, fallout and reunion. The movie was Bangladesh’s Oscar entry that year.
Qissa (2013): Directed by Anup Singh, Qissa featured Irrfan alongside Tisca Chopra and Tillottama Shome. All of them display equal brilliance and the trio manages to create goosebumps as the story progresses. Irrfan, Tisca and Tillotama play father, mother and daughter respectively in the film.
In Treatment (2008): Irrfan made his appearance on American TV with HBO’s In Treatment where he played the role of Sunil, a recently-widowed man with a dark past. The show was about about a psychotherapist and the patients he met. Irrfan played one of the patients.
Deadline Sirf 24 Ghante (2006): Irrfan featured in a grey role in this Bollywood adaptation of the Charlize Theron-Kevin Bacon film Trapped, which was based on the Greg Iles novel 24 Hours. Irrfan played the kidnapper while Sandhya Mridul was his partner-in-crime in this thriller. Konkona SenSharma and Rajit Kapur play the parents of the child Irrfan decides to kidnap.
Karamati Coat (1993): Irrfan was also seen in this children’s film which won an award in Frankfurt. Om Raut, the director of Tanhaji The Unsung Warrior also featured alongside Irrfan where the latter essayed the role of Jaggu.
Bharat Ek Khoj (1988): Irrfan, in his initial days, was also seen as Al Beruni of the Ghaznavid court on Shyam Benegal’s historical drama series which was based on Jawaharlal Nehru’s book Discovery of India.
Irrfan was admitted to the ICU of a Mumbai hospital for a colon infection and died a day later on Wednesday, April 29. He had been diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour in 2018 and had gone to London for treatment. Almost after a year in the UK, Irrfan returned to India and also completed work on his film Angrezi Medium. Directed by Homi Adajani, the film featured Pankaj Tripathi, Dimple Kapadia, Kareena Kapoor and Radhika Madaan in important roles and was his first film after having been diagnosed with cancer.
However, just days ahead of the film’s release, when the crew kickstarted the promotions for the film, Irrfan shared an audio message with his fans stating that he still needs to fight the “unwanted guests” in his body and will not be able to participate in the promotions of Angrezi Medium. That was the last fans heard from him. Angrezi Medium was among the last films to be released ahead of the lockdown amid Covid 19 pandemic and it also got an early release on digital platforms owing to pulling down of the film from theatres.
Soon after the digital premiere of Angrezi Medium, Irrfan died in a Mumbai hospital. Her died just days after he lost his mother. Irrfan could not attend her funeral due to the lockdown and witnessed the rituals, that took place in Jaipur, over a video call.
Sweta Kaushal writes for Hindustan Times and Dainik Samvaad. Previously, she has worked with NDTV and Dainik Bhaskar.