The Irrfan Khan I Knew As a Journalist
(Image from Irrfan Khan’s Instagram)
Irrfan Khan will live on in Indian cinema as the actor that set an impossible benchmark. Having had a long, financially challenging struggle of over a decade before getting noticed, Khan has patiently waited for content to evolve. It wasn’t always easy for him or his family. But his time had come with the 21stcentury, when Khan’s ability to become the common man hero connected with audiences. It has fuelled a new wave in story telling for Hindi films and streaming content.
Khan had seen this change coming way before. The author recalls an interaction with the star after the success of Piku. Having asked him about how he interprets romance by making it almost unnoticeable, he smiled disarmingly. Seriously all it would take to make one feel at ease was his smile. And his reply was straightforward- why does romance need to be larger than life? I feel Ashok Ganguly’s love story with Ashima in the Namesake was beautifully romantic. Love consumes us in all forms. He had come to stage in his career where he liked dabbling in romances and dramas because they brought him scope to build a character.
He concluded the interview and moved on to a conversation about costs of living and the state of Mumbai’s traffic. Never did his concern feel cultivated. He hadn’t forgotten the long period of difficulty that he faced in early days of acting.
He never disowned the fact that he liked meeting the press, and speaking with them. He had no pretense of exhaustion and monotony around film junket interviews. His stardom was hard- earned. Giving grief to the media wasn’t something that he would do. In fact, Piku’s success had come his way after over a decade of uncertainty that often becomes the fate of a committed actor in a star driven industry.
The author had first met Irrfan Khan for Rog, a less known subtle love story that he toplined. Mahesh Bhatt had directed the film while Pooja Bhatt had produced it. Ill fated right from the start, this remake of the Hollywood thriller Laura bombed. But prior to its release, Irrfan was in an optimistic frame of mind. The Warrior had brought him international recognition at a never before scale; and Road To Ladakh had made him a favorite of critics across international film festivals. He had an agent overseas now. Pooja Bhatt, a freethinking persona, clicked with him. Rog was part of the foundation that would make him a star in a Hindi film and not just a character. Even then he was vocal about the fact that stars can’t sustain content in the long run.
A shift in Irrfan Khan’s fortunes is visible after The Namesake. At this film’s Indian premiere, he was nervous. “I just hope that this one works,” he said. What he meant is that opportunities in Hollywood might grow as Mira Nair is a name to reckon with in this industry. By this point, he had realized that content in Hindi film would take a long time to evolve at the level of storytelling. International roles seemed like the next challenge. The compass had gradually begun to shift for him after it’s release, but it took time to bring results.
Irrfan Khan has had to wait for characters and scripts worthy of him. In those periods of time that he wouldn’t be working overseas, he worked in mainstream Hindi films to make money. He made impact in Yash Raj productions like New York and Aaja Nachle; and also acted in films like Billu (for Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment). He connected with the quality of conversation with a journalist, leaving behind hang ups of seniority and designation. Smoking his cigarillos, he left a lasting impression on young Nupur Singh Riat, a cub broadcast journalist. He offered her one and she (precociously) responded that cigarettes are not healthy and they could kill you. And he smiled and said, “Itna extra time ka kya karogi? (What will you do with so much extra time to live?)” Now this statement takes on new meaning. Having met him again while coordinating interviews for Slumdog Millionaire, Riat recalls, “ He was always very present and kind. He joked with a deadpan face. “ Being part of this mega cast of actors, Irrfan pushed the younger ones to speak, unlike Anil Kapoor, who can speak for two people or more.
Around this time Irrfan felt confident enough to point out that there were gaping holes in screen writing in Hindi cinema. There were no real stories, and much of the content was repetitive. His international success had buoyed his confidence. Interestingly, the man was never keen on gossip around other stars. He didn’t indulge in this common pastime that journalists and stars often partake in off record.
2008 was a breakthrough year for Irrfan Khan’s international career. Slumdog Millionaire made him a well-known Indian face and he also featured in New York, I love You- a portmanteau film featuring Hollywood stars. He worked alongside Natalie Portman in a Mira Nair short. Getting an interview with him now took a lot longer. He would respond to emails, and now needed a manager in India and abroad
During this phase, he got signed on for In Treatment, a limited series for HBO featuring Gabriel Byrne. Khan had landed on a cold winter night to begin shoot. The crew sent him over 23 pages of dialogue. Not confident of his command over English, he was worried. He picked up the phone on Naseeruddin Shah. Shoot was to begin just a day later. How to deal with this? And Shah offered sage advice- you don’t have a choice, just learn it by heart. He must have done a fine job of doing this, for his performance as a Bengali widower having relocated to Brooklyn, New York, has been called the most interesting and the finest amongst characters on this show.
My final interaction with Khan was for a long interview around Madari. He had produced a film. He backed this project because he believed that actors must produce stories that a conventional film producer won’t. “Have you seen Netflix? If we don’t get any better at writing our films, streaming content will beat Hindi cinema. People will simply stop watching. We’ve got to catch up. I still keep hunting for better stories to act in or produce..”
His lunch while promoting this film was worth noticing. It was Spartan. Irrfan looked tired but kept chatting with every journalist individually. He was genuinely concerned about aggression and judgment that had begun to dominate the news universe in India. Polarization had just begun to shape public discourse. To him, this showed signs of ill health for a democracy. That he was now a successful name in mainstream Hindi cinema didn’t matter much to him. Vanity was never his thing.
Khan appeared in Tokyo Trial, the engaging Japan produced Netflix series after this. And within a couple of years of his predictive analysis, India surely but certainly began to switch to streaming platforms. Every day heroes like Ayushmann Khurrana became super successes, and the writer found long overdue significance. Films have definitely gotten better too. If only we had Irrfan to immortalize some of this quality stories now.