Irrfan Khan: The humble man behind melancholic eyes and brilliant wit who was India's face in Hollywood
It was all in his melancholic eyes. Irrfan Khan could speak a thousand words with the glittering anger in his eyes. Five years ago, I darted off on an official assignment for a press conference for ‘Jazbaa’, where he set foot with the former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, who is known as “the most beautiful woman in the world”.
That year, in the autumn of 2015, she returned to the marquee after a long sabbatical and all eyes were on her. Even in her paramount presence, there was a certain inevitable charm about him. His gracious smile, his ruffled hair, his way of catching you off guard with his wit, and the gift of making you chuckle even with a straight face, he had an unforgettable impact on minds.
As a young journalist, I was excited to catch a few minutes for an exclusive interview. Sadly, it was a busy day. Looking at his hectic schedule, his representative had already told me, it couldn't happen. But I was determined and wasn't going to let that one golden chance go. As he rushed to the exit door, I ran towards him like a silly schoolgirl and asked if I could get an interview with him later sometime. It didn't even take a moment for him to nod his head with a smile and say yes.
The very next minute, he signaled his publicist to jot down my phone number and get me that interview. I was grateful to him and utterly happy, not just for the fact that I had scored an interview but for those two minutes of unbridled joy when he gave me a glimpse of his modest persona. Today, when I found out he lost his life after a two-year-long battle with a neuroendocrine tumor, it brought back his innocent eyes to my mind.
When I met him, he was already an established actor with a string of well-acclaimed films like 'Maqbool' (2004), 'The Namesake' (2006), 'Life in a... Metro' (2007), and 'Paan Singh Tomar' (2011) — that earned him the National Film Award in India — and 'The Lunchbox (2013) in his kitty. But it was precisely that year when he hit a hattrick with back-to-back movies 'Piku' (2015), and 'Talvar' (2015).
He also had chalked a name for himself on the global map and become the 'Indian face in the West' with wondrous performances in 'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008), 'The Amazing Spider-Man' (2012), 'Life of Pi' (2012), 'Jurassic World' (2015), and 'Inferno' (2016).
When I finally got on a call, he expressed his love for “great stories and great cinema” and expressed the importance of “each and every role” he had played so far, and how he was relieved if he was successful in painting a picture and sending a strong message through his characters. Beneath that extraordinary acting prowess lay a humble young man who had the grit to churn gold with the golden beads of blood and sweat.
It was no surprise that we shared the same city. Irrfan was born and brought up in Jaipur — the 'Pink City' of India — where I hail from and I could sense that unfathomable connection even from a distance. He may not have had an athletic built, or looks-to-die-for... he had something greater. He was a hero, who could take the weight of a film on his shoulders and deliver immense depth, flavor, grit and pull viewers with immense earnestness.
Now that he is no more, his words from 'Life Of Pi' ring in my heart again and again... “I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye...” In the shadows of his remarkable past lies an inspiration, a spark to turn your life from ordinary to extraordinary. Could there be a greater gift he could have given to millions of his followers?