Irrfan Khan was an Indian Actor who worked in Hindi Cinema as well as British and American films. Cited in the media as one of the finest actors in Indian Cinema, Khan’s career spanned over 30 years. Irrfan established himself as one of the finest actors in Indian Cinema with his versatile and natural acting. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honor for his contribution to the field of Arts.

In Irrfan’s early days in Mumbai, he took up a job as an air conditioner repairman and visited the home of his acting inspiration, Rajesh Khanna, in 1984. Later in an interview Irrfan stated, “The kind of craze witnessed by Rajesh Khanna has not been duplicated by anyone. He was the biggest and the most real star Bollywood has produced. I’d say stardom is that feeling of being possessed by your idol; you are so overwhelmed with euphoria you lose touch with reality.”

In 1984 he earned a scholarship to the National School of Acting in New Delhi. After his graduation from NSD in 1987, Irrfan made his debut with a Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! (1988), where he was offered a minor role. However, his scenes were reduced in the final cut. He played Lenin in a teleplay on Doordarshan titled Laal Ghaas Par Neele Ghode, based on a translation by Uday Preakash of a Russian play by Mikhail Shatrov. He was then cast as a psycho killer, the main antagonist of the show, in the serial Darr. He also played the famous revolutionary, Urdu Poet and Marxist political activist of India, Makhdoom Mohiuddin, in Kahkashan, produced by Ali Sardar Jafri. He acted numerous television serials throughout the 1990s, including Chanakya, Bharat Ek Khoj, Sara Jahan Hamara, Banegi Apani Baat, Chandrakanta, Shrikant, Sparsh and The Great Maratha of DD National. He also played a double role in the popular 90s supernatural fantasy period drama, Chandrakanta, which was based on a Novel written by Devki Nandan Khatri in 1888.

He featured opposite Roopa Ganguly in Basu Chatterjee’s critically acclaimed drama film Kamla Ki Maut (1989). In the 1990s, he appeared in the critically acclaimed films Ek Doctor Ki Maut and Such a Long Journey (1998). In 1998, he played Valmiki in Sanjay Khan’s serial Jai Hanuman.

Asif Kapadia cast him as the lead in The Warrior, a historical film completed in 11 weeks on location in Himachal Pradesh and Rajathan. In 2002, The Warrior opened at international film festivals.

Between 2003 and 2004, he acted in Ashvin Kumar’s short film, Road to Ladakh; the film received rave reviews at international festivals. That same year, he played the title role in the critically acclaimed Maqbool, and adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

After starring in the British film The Warrior (2001), he had his breakthrough with starring roles in the dramas Haasil (2003) and Maqbool(2004). Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film Haasil rating of 2 out of 5 saying that, “Though the film has several gripping moments and a power-packed performance by Irrfan Khan, the outcome is hampered when the movie drifts into predictable zone, post-interval”. Irrfan Khan won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role for his portrayal of Ranvijay Singh in the movie.

His first Bollywood lead role came in 2005 with Rog. His performance was praised by critics; one wrote, “Irrfan’s eyes speak louder than his words and every time he is in frame, be it talking to his buddy Manish or arguing with Suhel, he shows his capability as an actor”. Thereafter, he appeared in several films either playing the leading role or a supporting role as a villain. In 2004, he won the Filmfare Best Villain Award for his role in Haasil. He also played an antagonist in the Telugu film Sainikudu.

In 2007, he appeared in the box office hits The Namesake and Life in a … Metro. His chemistry with Konkana Sen was on the highlights of the latter; it also won him the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. These roles were closely followed by his appearances in the international films, A Mighty Heart and The Darjeeling Limited.

Irrfan played a police inspector in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, for which he and the cast of the movie won Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. About him, Danny Boyle said, “he has an instinctive way of finding the ‘moral centre’ of any character, so that in Slumdog, we believe the policeman might actually conclude that Jamal is innocent.”

In 2009, he featured in the film Acid Factory. He appeared as an FBI agent in New York (2009), and opposite Natalie Portman as a Gujarati diamond merchant in the Mira Nair directed segment of the 12 part feature New York, I Love You. In 2010, he worked on the third season of the HBO series In Treatment, enacting the part of Sunil, who is finding it difficult to come to terms with his wife’s death and loneliness after moving to the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

Irrfan played Dr. Rajit Ratha in The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012. He played the adult version of Piscine “Pi” Molitor Patel in Ang Lee’s film adaptation of Life of Pi, which became a critical and commercial success worldwide. His lead role in Paan Singh Tomar (2012), won him the National Film Award for Best Actor. In 2013, he starred in The Lunchbox, which won the Grand Rail d’0r at Cannes Film Festival and received a BAFTA nominations, and became his highest-grossing Hindi film to date.

In 2014, Irrfan appeared in Gunday, which was a moderate box office success. He also made guest appearances in the films The Xpose and Haider, playing an important role. In 2015, he played the lead role in the film Piku. Irrfan co-starred in the 2015 film Jurassic World. In the same year, he also appeared in the acclaimed thriller Talvar in which his performance was praised. He appeared in Jazbaa and Inferno. He also starred in Madaari, a 2016 Indian social thriller film directed by Nishikant Kamat.

In 2017, Irrfan appeared in two films, Hindi Medium which was commercially and critically successful and won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. Irrfan also starred in No Bed of Roses (2017) and Karwan (2018), Blackmail. His Hollywood film released Puzzle also released in 2018. Irrfan’s final film appearance was in Angrezi Medium, directed by Homi Adajania, which was released on 13 March 2020.

In September 2015, he was appointed the Brand Ambassador for “Resurgent Rajasthan”, a campaign by the State Government of Rajasthan. He lent his voice to the light and sound show at the war memorial for the Indian Army at Vidhan Sabha Road, Jaipur. The show portrayed the valour and courage of Rajasthani Soldiers, and their historic and modern triumphs in battle.

Photos courtesy Google. Excerpts taken from Google.