Today marks an extremely sad day in the history of Indian cinema, as one of its most talented actors, Irrfan Khan, left for his heavenly abode. The actor was suffering from a colon infection, past a few days and was hospitalised at the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital. He breathed his last, this morning.
No one can forget Irrfan's body of work but not many know that the actor was ready to quit acting, a little early in his career, right after his stint on television. During one of our old interviews with the actor, we had asked him about this decision. And Irrfan had a long reasoning for it.
"It was repetition that bored me, even though the TV show that I started with was very popular. What happens in TV is that when the audience likes a certain dimension to a character, the writers play up on it. So as an actor, you end up playing the same emotion, again and again," Irffan had told us.
The late actor had further explained how he wanted to explore the world of acting after passing out of drama school but felt restricted in the television medium, "There’s nothing for you to explore. I came out of drama school imagining that I would be a cinema actor. Television bored me to death. It felt like I was doing a Radio play for a visual medium. You have to verbalise everything for the TV audience. So, for instance, if a woman is working in the kitchen, she can put the volume on high and listen to what’s happening, even though she can’t physically see the TV set. So, that made me really bored and I was thinking of quitting (acting)... but you know, life has its own designs, you should trust it."
We had then asked him what made him change his mind, and Irrfan had told us, "I think it was the casting of Warrior (2001). I had no idea what kind of film it would be. When I met the director and he gave me an insight to the story, something happened to me (clicks). My instincts told me, this is special. I didn’t have any experience in films up till that point, but the world that he created in the narration, had an element of magic realisation. It was hypnotic.
On one hand I’m doing television that bores me, and on the other I meet this director who’s telling me a story. I can’t wait to know what happens next in the story. I’m like phir kya hua...kya hua...
I didn’t hear back from them for sometime after the narration, and started becoming insecure. I didn’t know if I had been selected or not. Then, I got the news that changed my life."
Actor's last rites were performed a few minutes back at the Versova Yari Road Kabristaan. May his soul rest in peace.
Image Source:-themetrognome.in