IRRFAN KHAN: A small tribute

My blog posts are never personal but this one is. My favourite artist Irrfan khan passed away yesterday, I am unlike any obsessed fan crazy about meeting celebrities. Even when I come across them in events, I don’t go running to them for selfies, I let them have their space. But my admiration for Irrfan Khan was different, there’s no one I have ever admired the way I did him.

I recall seeing him in ‘Billu’ in my early teens. My only concern was why he got all the screen time and not Shahrukh Khan. Almost 10 years later, Irrfan Khan for me is a clickbait, I see him in the thumbnail I click the video, I see his name, I read the article. With him gone now my ardent wish to meet him at any stage of my life too remains incomplete forever. I know there’s a lot to explore for me but I have read so many authors since my childhood, seen so many movies of the last one century, came across so many art works as a student of Humanities but never ever I had this extent of admiration for any artist.

A couple of days ago I was watching his old interview in his hometown Jaipur and his native place Tonk. An extremely unique aura, so simple but so attractive. In the last few years I watched his older works Maqbool, Metro, his short films with Mira Nair and others and newer movies Piku, Karwaan, Talvar, Qarib Qarib, Madaari, Hindi Medium and others. Many try but he is that actor who could actually fit into any character, a gangster, FBI agent, a regular office goer, a chandni chowk shopkeeper, a charming lover, any role.

With him gone I fear what if I run out of his movies, what when I will watch them all,who will I look forward to watching. One of the rare times I went to a cinema hall in the last 10 years was to watch his movie.

I don’t know when will I next admire any other artist so passionately. Maybe when I am done watching all his works, I’ll start again, and it will still be new for me.

-Mrinalini Raj