Dulquer, Mithila miss Irrfan in Dubai

Bollywood road trip film ‘Karwaan’ releases in the UAE on Thursday

The stars of Karwaan said that despite Irrfan Khan’s absence from the Bollywood film’s current marketing blitzkrieg, the actor’s presence remained a constant during the promotional activities. Kerala star Dulquer Salmaan, along with YouTube sensation Mithila Palkar and director Akarsh Khurana, said this while presenting Karwaan in Dubai.

Khan is currently battling a neuroendocrine tumour, a rare disease that affects a person’s nervous system and can also form cancerous lumps in a body’s organs.

Reminiscing about the film’s shoot across Kerala, Salmaan recalled Khan’s fascination with the small towns and villages that were visited during the road trip movie’s many stops along the way.

“Irrfan seemed to enjoy the shoot so much — the greenery, the monsoons, the wildlife we encountered on the way,” recalled Salmaan. “We missed Onam sadhya [festive feast] by a day in one of the villages. So as soon as we had a chance, I made sure I took Irrfan for one. And he loved it so much that he decided to turn vegetarian for the rest of the shoot, saying that the food was so good that it was a perfect excuse for him to give up meat.”

Film director Khurana added that Khan was so curious about Malayalam cinema, the culture. “Even his team told us that after Piku (2015), this is the happiest they had ever seen the actor on a film shoot.”

Palkar, who is a relative newcomer to Bollywood, added that it took her a while to think that she was acting with Khan and not actually him in a state of awe. “I am so fond of him now that I couldn’t have hoped for a better actor to work with on the film.”

In Karwaan, the trio embark on a madcap road trip across India when Salmaan’s character receives the wrong dead body after his father’s demise. The film releases in the UAE on Thursday.

Read the full interview in tabloid! soon.