Irfan Khan : The irreplaceable

I cannot accept Irfan Khan passed away today. It was not the time and age to depart. He had much more to offer. I always looked upto him, the way he became a legend after long struggle is noteworthy. Now everybody is writing he did so well in Hollywood ( The Amazing Spider man, Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire etc ) but if you note he struggled from 1988 ( Salam Bombay) to 2003 till Maqbool shot him into fame. In between he acted in TV ( ChandraKanta, Bharat Ek Khoj etc) but he was fairly forgettable.

Naseeruddin Shah once asked him how he did not become a drunken complainer. He replied he was never satisfied by his performance hence always strived for better. That’s the spirit for a man who came to Bollywood without a godfather and went to Hollywood to become India’s greatest actor. He struggled for 15 years (1988 to 2003) but never lost his focus. He proves by sheer talent you can achieve what you want. We complain so many times that our parents did not help, that circumstances are adverse etc etc. But success of Irfan Khan from a humble background without godfather in a competitive film industry where you are as successful as your last hit shows nothing is impossible. He was a self-made man who reached greatest height. He inspires us to dream. In the end he succumbed to cancer but never to failure. He left head held high. In last 17 years ( Maqbool 2003 to Angrezi Medium 2020) he stayed in the top of the game. 

Just look at the enviable filmography. Maqbool, Life in a Metro, Haider, Namesake, Hindi Medium, Piku, Lunch Box, Slumdog Millionaire, Qissa…..one cannot end, the list is unending. He was indeed very prolific. He never had the looks of a hero but he had portrayed versatile roles. From playing criminal to police officer to university professor to a regular sarkari employee to a chauffer, he did every role with finesse. He made boring roles memorable. For example, his role of a lonely unmarried man in Lunch Box made us fall for his lonely soul. I felt Lunch Box was made for him, nobody in India would turn that mundane role to an award winning one. I still regret why Lunch Box was not sent for Oscars. Goutam Ghosh, the famous filmmaker commented he wanted Lunch Box to be in Oscars as the only Indian entry but everybody vetoed him. Lunch Box was produced by Sony Pictures and had a high chance of getting into Oscars race in 2013. But our bad it was never sent to Oscars. Irfan deserved a standing ovation for Lunch Box. 

His comic timing in Life in a Metro, his slumdog no one in Mumbai Meri Jaan, his uncouth inability to speak English in Hindi Medium, his matter of fact role of driver in Piku, his professorial look in The Namesake, his criminal dacoit role in Paan Singh Tomar…..I cannot stop. His roles ate too many to describe in a short space. Just 2 years ago he played the lead role in Doob, a film made in Bangladesh which became Bangladesh's first official entry to Oscars in 2018. He proved for making a movie you need actors not stars.

 It’s a pity he died during lock down. Twenty thousand would have stood for his cortege, only 20 were actually  allowed. Social media is flooded with homage. He has won hearts and rules the minds of common man.

Pensively, looking at his end, I quote from a poem “ The Burial of Sir john Moore at Corunna”.

“Slowly and sadly we laid him down,

From the field of his fame fresh and gory;

We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,

But left him alone with his glory”.

I bid adieu Irfan Khan. You are irreplaceable.