IRRFAN KHAN

The perfect gentleman who straddled Bollywood and Hollywood bids farewell.

In Ang Lee’s 2012 film, The Life Of Pi, Irrfan Khan delivered a moving monologue about the difficulty of parting ways with those we’re used to having around. “I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go,” he intones, those expressive eyes brimming with tears, “but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye.”

Last month, the movie world felt similar emotions when Khan died at the age of 53 in Mumbai after a two-year struggle with a rare neuroendocrine tumour. As his fellow Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan tweeted, Khan was “an incredible talent, a gracious colleague, a prolific contributor to the world of cinema […] left us too soon”.

A wannabe cricketer from Jaipur, Khan went to drama school when his wicket dreams didn’t work out and made a name for himself in TV soap operas. He made his film debut in 1988 in Salaam Bombay!, but didn’t find larger roles until 2002 when he was cast in Asif Kapadia’s The Warrior, which opened up parts in Indian cinema (Maqbool, Rog, Life In A Metro) as well as growing prominence in international roles, none more sensitively judged than his role in Mira Nair’s 2006 English-language drama, The Namesake. In 2007 he made memorable impressions in Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart and Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Express before finding global recognition with the multi-award winning Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. That opened the door to turns in The Life Of Pi and The Amazing SpiderMan, delightful Indo-French-German arthouse collaboration The Lunchbox, and blockbusters Jurassic World and Inferno. His Bollywood hits included Haider, Pika, Hindi Medium – and he’d just finished filming Angrezi Medium before he fell ill. This, his final film, was released just as Covid-19 closed cinemas across India, adding to that feeling among audiences that Khan had been whisked away without being able to say goodbye.

Though he leaves a legacy of over 150 Bollywood and Hollywood credits, Khan has also been remembered by his colleagues as a true gentleman; Tom Hanks called him “the coolest man in the room”, Angelina Jolie recalled he “stood out for his generosity” while Mira Nair said he embodied the Urdu word ‘shaukeen’; “which means somebody with a lot of love and indulgences and delights.” A delight indeed. JC