Source: Pinkvilla
Introduction
“Pack a pillow and blanket and see as much of the world you can. You will not regret it. One day, it will be too late”
Remember this great dialogue? Yeah, this is from ‘The Namesake’, one of the greatest films of one of the world's most magnificent actors of all time whose name is Irrfan Khan. Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan, popularly known as Irrfan Khan to us was one of the most iconic actors of the world cinema who worked in many remarkable movies throughout his life. His contribution to Indian Cinema as well as British and American films is unforgettable.
This finest actor, unfortunately, said goodbye to the world 2 years back on 29 April 2020, when he died of neuroendocrine. He amazed us a number of times with his works from the beginning and the end of his carrier. The actor was loved and appreciated by all the audiences and critics globally. Throughout his lifetime, the versatile actor was so natural in his acting that he took a very short period of time to enter international films.
With several national and international awards & nominations, the actor was acclaimed at different times for his predominant performance in the movies. Most importantly, unlike most Hindi film actors or actresses, he was loved by all kinds of religious people. Through this article, we will revisit Irrfan Khan with two of his excellent works in British and American films which won Academy awards, and proof of his artistic skill that is unmatched to date.
Irrfan Khan and His Journey
Irrfan Khan was born in a Muslim family on 7 January 1967 in Tonk of Rajasthan. Many of us maybe don’t familiar with the fact that Irrfan Khan was a cricketer in his prime. He was even selected for the under-23 category of the CK Nayudu Trophy, one of the ways of stepping into first-class cricket in India. But, because of his poor financial condition, he could not make it to the match.
Later getting influenced by his maternal uncle, he started his journey of acting as a theatre artist and performed in multiple plays in the city of Jodhpur. Later he went to Delhi to study acting at the National School of Drama (NSD) in 1984 and thereafter in Jaipur, he completed his post-graduation. In the initial time of his career, he struggled a lot with the economic condition of his family. Even he took a job as an AC repairman in Mumbai. It was heard that at that time, he once took a visit to his idol Rajesh Khanna in 1984.
In 1987, Irrfan debuted in his first film ‘Salaam Bombay’ directed by Mira Nair. He got a very minor role in that film as a letter writer but unfortunately, his scenes were cut off from the movie in the final edit of the movie. Later, he worked in various TV programs and played many exceptional characters in the Doordarshan serials and TV series such as ‘Darr’, ‘Laal Ghass Par Neele Ghode’, ‘Chanakya’, ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ and many others.
Khan finally got his first breakthrough in the historical movie ‘The Warrior’ of Asif Kapadia in a lead role in 2001. This film was praised by the critics in the international film festivals and after that Irrfan Khan never looked back in his long career of 34 years. After this, he appeared in many spectacular Hindi and English language films like ‘Rog’ (2005), ‘Life in a….Metro’ (2007), ‘Namesake’ (2007), ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (2008), ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ (2012), and ‘Life of Pi’ (2012).
His 2017 film ‘Hindi Medium’ became one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of all time as it crossed over $3.643 billion at the global box office. And its sequel came in 2020 whose name is ‘Angrezi Medium’ in which we witnessed his last appearance. He died right after 1 month of releasing this film in the theatre.
The Two Oscar-Winning Films and Irrfan’s Contribution
Slumdog Millionaire
Source: IMDb
To a great actor like Irrfan Khan, it never mattered whether he got the lead or a supporting role in the movies. Whenever he got his chance, he proved through his talent that he was and will be one of the finest actors of our century. Like played a brief but very important role of a serious police inspector.
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was a film about class discrimination and the poor socio-economic structure existing in India. It was released in 2008 and is one of the best films of all time. It bagged 8 Oscars in the 2009 Academy Award Ceremony for best picture, best direction, best writing, and so on. The story of movie is about an 18-year-old boy from the slums of the city of Mumbai who came to a quiz show called “Kaun Banega Crorepati?” and won 20 million rupees. And after this, his life took a turn around, and got under suspicion of cheating by the police. Police arrested the boy whose name was Jamal Malik and started his inquiry. Jamal became desperate to prove that he was actually innocent. And through the inquiry, he would talk about his life’s story in the slums in the city and how he actually staggered that kind of money on the show.
The role of this inspector which was played by Khan as I mentioned earlier was so magnificent that without it the story might not get its proper meaning. And Irrfan Khan shined perfectly in this role too with his outstanding performance. He was the protector of the law on one hand and another hand he was also an empathetic person who listened carefully to the teenage boy’s story. He was like the mediator between the lower-middle class and the higher class who might service the sophisticated class of society but have a heart for humanity.
Source: IMDb
The story of ‘Life of Pi’ is about a young Canadian writer searching for a story concept. He then goes to see South Asian Canadian Pi Patel to hear about his adventures from his own lips. Pi continues to tell him about his life, which begins in Pondicherry as the son of zookeepers, the zoo property where he grew up. But after a certain disaster in the Pacific Ocean, how his life changed while he was surviving in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.
The movie was released in 2012 and won four Oscars in the 2013 award ceremony. In this movie, Irrfan Khan played the role of adult Pi Patel and he nailed the role quite superbly. Delivering the dialogue in a unique way and the enchanting body language the actor won the hearts of all audiences across the world and made the movie a universal one. It was so mesmerizing to watch Irrfan Khan in every scene of the movie.
It is known that there are several other projects done by the actor where he played the main character. But these two movies are the perfect example where we can find what kind of classy actor was Irrfan Khan. Even though he gets a little part in a movie, he made everyone outshined by his performance. Besides Khan was a kind, heart-warming and sweet person who never bragged about his talent and touched the hearts of all people from every class, religion, and race through his acting. The world had a great loss because of the passing away of this great artistic mind of the world of cinema.
Written by Joy Gure
Edited by Kritika Sharma
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