In the very beginning Irrfan Khan was the talented actor in TV serials. Then gradually he became visible in small roles on the big screen like Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay (1988) and Govind Nihaani’s Drishti (1990). He featured in Ek Doctor Ki Maut and Bada Din with Shabana Azmi, played a prosecutor in Kasoor and a police inspector in Gunaah, all praise worthy performances but somehow unnoticed by the filmmakers.
The tide changed for Irrfan Khan after Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool in 2003. Bhardwaj not just lent a new image to Khan but launched a new pair as well. In the coming years Khan packed in a variety of characters and did justice to all. The Namesake and Life in a Metro (2007), Slum Dog Millionnaire and Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008), Life of Pi and Paan Singh Tomar (2012), Saheb Biwi aur Gangster Returns and Dday (2013) Lunch Box and Haider (2014) and finally, Talvar, Piku, Jazbaa (2015) interestingly all films about relationships.
On the eve of Irrfan Khan’s new film Madaari, I recall a conversation with the actor about his on-screen relationships and started by asking him about his early stint with television:
What attracted you to do Bharat Ek Khoj on television?
Irrfan Khan: I liked the canvas and the concept and the idea of working with Shyam Benegal. Coming from theatre I looked forward to explore a new medium with a director I respected and for a long time the shooting was a lot of fun. The only problem about working on television is that you have no life beyond the studios and one day, you decide that enough is enough. I decided that I will wait for the right break.
Then you got Salaam Bombay and in a way it became the beginning?
Irrfan: Yes, I was noticed in the film but the struggle had just begun. There was a long period of waiting, some wrong choices, some failures but some exciting films, for instance Life In a... Metro or Billu Barber will always remain special characters for me.
Most of your characters are attractive because of their relationships with women, do you choose these characters consciously?
Irrfan: On the contrary, I feel it is the director’s vision that makes the character attractive. A filmmaker casts an actor in a specific role because he suits the part but often, because the actor is unsuccessful, the director loses confidence to project him with the deserving aura. When Vishal signed me for Maqbool, I was relatively unknown but he had the confidence to project me with the drama deserving of the role. Artists are sensitive to surroundings and when I sense positive vibrations from my co-star Tabu, it is instant magic on the sets.
Tabu and you came together again for Mira Nair’s The Namesake
Irrfan: Yes and this time as husband and wife living in America. I had earlier worked with Mira in Salaam Bombay but it was a first time with Tabu. Any other director would have thought twice of casting Tabu and me as a couple after our relationship in Maqbool but Mira is beyond these fears, she journeys with her characters and that is the most beautiful thing about all her films. Tabu and I paired as husband and wife again in Life of Pi and played parents to a young boy and Haider I feel is a spiritual connection because this time we are not bonded as lovers or by matrimony.
In Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns you are not serious about either of the two women but convincing with both
Irrfan: They are complex characters and are conceived by the writer/ director and my job as an actor is to make them realistic. It is a bit confusing but the fact is that even when you dislike somebody you can appreciate their good points and a bad man also has moments of goodness, which is natural but very difficult to project as a character.
Do you think love stories like Lunch Box are possible?
Irrfan: Why not, if it happens to the characters in the film it can happen to anybody. Anything and everything is possible. Human life is far more fascinating than we give credit to it and it is movies like Lunch Box that bring hope and cheer in the lives of the audiences.
What about Piku, how do you describe this special relationship?
Irrfan: All of us have one Piku in our family who shoulders responsibility and is the reason that the rest of the family is free to lead their lives. I’m not sure however if every Piku has a Rana in her life. Rana and Piku are in similar situations in their lives, both are getting on in age and their parental equation is obsessive. What makes them different however are their reactions and that is why there is a strange connect and attraction between them.
You started as an actor but have become a star, are you happy with your journey?
Irrfan: I have lots to thank almighty for, I’m comfortable but the actor inside me is as hungry as I was when I first came to Mumbai, narrate me a good story and my eyes light up.
(Bhawana Somaaya has been writing on cinema for 30 years and is the author of 12 books. Twitter: @bhawanasomaaya)
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