Irrfan Khan – Life, Movies And Sudden Demise

Irrfan Khan – Beyond Cinema

It is so much disheartening to believe that one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema Irrfan Khan is no more. On 29^th April 2020, at the age of 53 Irrfan Khan took his last breath at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Bombay due to a colon infection. He was suffering from Neuroendocrinetumor (a kind of cancer in simple words) since 2018 and the treatment was proceeding even while he was shooting for his last movie – Angreji medium in the UK.

This came out as too shocking and difficult of a situation for all of his fans throughout the world, as where the country is already in a state of lockdown held for preventing the Corona Virus to spread, this came out to be a pain in the silence.

As many are acknowledging that this loss is not for just cinema, it feels personal for many of his fans. And the reason is the originality of a being that he always brought on the screen, to which every human could relate.

Some of the prominent awards and accreditations

• National Film Award for the best actor in the 60th National Film Awards 2012 and a Film fare Critics Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Paan Singh Tomar.
• In 2014 he won the Asian Film Award for Best Actor.
• He has won three International Indian Film Academy Awards, three Filmfare
• Awards, and an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
• The latest award in his kitty being the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the
• movie Hindi Medium in 2017.
• And of course, in the year 2011, Irrfan Khan received the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honor in India, for his contribution to the field of arts.

Not just these awards, we can also give him huge credit for all the movies which have won awards at the biggest stages of the world, in which he was starred. “Slumdog Millionaire” won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the Baftas. Life of Pi, Jurassic World, and the list of the valuable golds in the treasure of cinema will remain forever, as a mark of the fine craft he has been part of. Also, his movie “The Warrior” was also awarded the Bafta award for Best British film.

Breakthrough to the Cinema

Coming onto his life, SahabzadeIrrfan Ali Khan (his full name) was born on 7th January 1967 in the pink city of Jaipur, Rajasthan to a Muslim Pathan family, his father; Jagirdar Khan was from the village near Tonk district, and his mother Begum Khan belonged to the Tonk Hakim family. The Royal family of Irrfan Khan ran a tire business. However, later, he wanted to earn money with his own hard work and skills.

Irrfan Khan initially wanted to become a cricketer, but this wasn’t supported by his family. While doing his M.A. degree, he luckily got a scholarship in the National School of Drama (NSD) in the year 1984 where he did his diploma in arts.

The first job Irrfan did in the city of Mumbai was repairing air-conditioners, and it is said that the first house he visited for repairing the A/C was of Rajesh Khanna, what a stroke of luck.

His first movie was Salaam Bombay in 1988 in his final years of NSD, but unfortunately, his role was shortened due to the height issues.

He was later seen in lots of TV series before coming into the Bollywood industry. Some of the famous ones were Chanakya, Bharat EkKhoj, Chandrakanta, and Shrikant. He also played the role of an antagonist in a Star Plus TV-Series Darr which was his first one with a lead role where he was a psycho serial killer opposite Kay KayMenon.

However, things changed dramatically for him, when a London-based director Asif Kapadia gave him a lead role in the movie – The Warrior in the year 2001. This was the movie that instantly gave him the kind of credits he deserved for being an actor of his kind.

His first break in Bollywood industry for a lead role was the movieRogwhich was released in the year 2005 and after this movie, there was a quote which became popular for him –

“Irfaan’s eyes speak louder than his words every time he is in the frame.”

There was also a time when he was offered a great role in the movie Interstellar which is directed by the great and respected director Christopher Nolan, but Irrfan Khan refused the offer for this movie. He did this because he was already committed to his projects TheLunch Box and D Day.

Later, Irrfan’sLunchbox was one of the very few Indian movies to have won the Grand Rail d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Do you see the dedication and self-confidence this man has? This is the only reason why Irrfan, who has come from a complete non-filmy background without any connections with the industry, has engraved his names in our minds and hearts in golden letters.

Movie Career

Irrfan Khan has done some of the best movies in Indian cinema as well as in Hollywood. Some of the critically acclaimed movies are:

Bollywood                                                                   

•       The Lunch Box (2013)
•       Life in a Metro (2007)                                                        
•       Piku (2015)
•       Blackmail (2018)
•       Karwaan (2018)
•       Paan Singh Tomar
•       Madaari (2016)
•       Talvar (2015)
•       Maqbool (2003)
•       Haider (2014)
•       Jazba  (2015)
•       Hindi Medium(2017)
•       Angreji Medium (2020), etc.

Indian TV Series

Chanakya, Bharat EkKhoj, Sara Jahan Hamara, BanegiApniBaat, Chandrakanta, Shrikant (Doordarshan), AnooGoonj, Star Bestsellers (Star Plus), and Sparsh.      

Hollywood

•       Inferno (2016)
•       Life of Pi (2012)
•       Jurassic World (2015)
•       Slumdog Millionaire (British movie) 2008
•       The Amazing Spiderman (2012)
•       The Warrior (2001)
•       The Namesake (2006)

Disease and Death

In the year 2018, he was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor, which was under treatment for the past 1 year, and during the shoot of his last movie Angreji Medium, he was also under treatment in the UK.

His mother Begum Khan died 4 days ago and Irrfan could not even attend the funeral due to the lockdown held in the country for fighting against the Corona Spread. And on 28^th April, he was admitted to Kokilaben Hospital in Bombay where he died on 29^th April.

There have always been the best of the kinds of actors and they will keep on coming in the future as well, to engrave their names on the walls of excellence, and Sahabzaade Irrfan Ali Khan will remain one of that excellence.

The goal is to die with memories, not dreams! -Irrfan Khan. Here are some more Irrfan Khan Quotes which will be remembered for a lifetime.

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Image Source- Instagram @irrfan