52 minutes agoAuthor: Virendra Mishra
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Late actor Irrfan Khan left a mark of his acting not only in Bollywood but also in Hollywood. He impressed the audience of every section with his acting. Irfan was born on 7 January 1967 in a Muslim Pathan family in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Irrfan was suffering from neuroendocrine tumor and fought a long battle with the disease. He said goodbye to this world on 29 April 2020. Today, on the fourth death anniversary of Irrfan Khan, let us know some stories related to his life…
Wanted to become a cricketer, not an actor
Irrfan Khan wanted to become a cricketer and not an actor. Irfan himself had revealed this during an interview. The actor had said – 'There was a time when I used to play cricket. I was selected for the CK Nayudu tournament.
In that, 26 of my friends were selected who had to go to a camp, but I could not go because I could not arrange money to go to the camp. I decided to leave cricket because it would require someone's help.
Dreaming of being an actor was the biggest risk in life
Irfan struggled a lot after coming into the industry. Irrfan had said- 'I watched some films and dreamed of becoming an actor. This was the biggest risk of my life. There was no creative background in the family I come from. My father died when I got admission in NSD. After which money stopped coming from home. Therefore, I did the course through the fellowship from NSD.
Worked as an electrician before acting
Irrfan Khan struggled a lot after coming to Mumbai. He used to work as an electrician before acting. Irrfan once got the job of repairing AC at Rajesh Khanna's house. When he went to Rajesh Khanna's house to fix the AC, Rajesh Khanna's babysitter opened the door. At that time Irrfan had seen Rajesh Khanna for the first time and was very happy to see him.
Started acting from small screen
Irrfan Khan started his acting career with Doordarshan's serial 'Srikanth'. This serial came in the year 1985. Apart from this, he worked in 'Bharat Ek Khoj, Chanakya, Chandrakanta, Sara Jahan Hamara, Banegi Apni Baat' and Sanjay Khan's serial 'Jai Hanuman'.
Irrfan played the role of Maharishi Valmiki in Jai Hanuman. In this serial, the dacoit part was shown before becoming Valmiki. Which was strongly opposed by the Valmiki community of Punjab.
I cried a lot when the scene was cut in the movie.
While making a career in television, Mira Nair gave a cameo role to Irrfan Khan in the film 'Salaam Bombay', but his scene was cut in the film. Then he placed his head on Raghuveer Yadav's shoulder and cried a lot. Irrfan made his debut in the year 1990 with the film 'Ek Doctor Ki Maut'. Pankaj Kapoor and Shabana Azmi had lead roles in this film. In this, Irfan played the role of an outspoken reporter.
Mira Nair kept her promise to Irfan
After being cut from the role in Salaam Bombay, Mira Nair had promised Irrfan that she would give him a lead role in some other film. He gave her the lead role in the film 'The Namesake' released in 2006. When he was shooting for the film, Mira Nair gave him just Rs 10 lakh to spend 6 months in America. Till that time Irfan's struggle was not over.
Irrfan was Tigmanshu's senior at the National School of Drama. There was a very strong bonding between the two.
Irfan got angry and abused Tigmanshu
Irrfan Khan has worked with Tigmanshu Dhulia in films like Haasil, Paan Singh Tomar and Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster Returns. Recently, during an interview, Tigmanshu shared an incident related to Irrfan. Tigmanshu said – During the shooting of 'Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster Returns', when I reached the set, I saw that Irrfan was angry and lashed out at me.
Irfan had considered the death of bees as genocide
Tigmanshu said – That death of bees was no less than a massacre in Irfan's mind. Actually, there was a hive of bees on the set. Which I had asked to remove, but that person set it on fire, which made Irfan very angry.
When I reached the set, Irfan abused me and said, 'What have you done, do you know what bees are?' I said that I had asked to remove the bees, not to burn them.
Manoj Bajpayee wanted to play Irrfan's role in Maqbool
Manoj Bajpayee never worked with Irrfan Khan. Recently, during an interview, Manoj Bajpayee revealed that he wanted to play Irrfan's role in Maqbool. Manoj said- 'I had approached Vishal Bhardwaj for Maqbool. He said that KK Menon was playing the role earlier. For this he also grew his hair long. The film got delayed and he already had commitments on other projects, so it went to Irrfan. I called Vishal 21 times, but he kept refusing.
Vishal Bhardwaj had written the role of Tabu in Khufiya keeping Irrfan in mind.
Irrfan Khan has worked with director Vishal Bhardwaj in films like 'Maqbool', 'Saat Khoon Maaf' and 'Haider'. Vishal recently revealed that he had written the film 'Khufiya' keeping Irrfan Khan in mind, but after his death, Tabu played Irrfan's role in the film. Vishal said – 'When Irrfan was no more, I decided that I would not do this film with any other male actor. I cast Tabu in that role and changed the gender of that officer.
Irrfan Khan and Vishal Bhardwaj had a very deep relationship. Whenever Vishal thinks about Irrfan, he gets emotionally upset.
These films are milestones
Irrfan Khan has done many such films in his 32 years of career, which proved to be milestones. He received the Filmfare Award for 'Best Villain' that year for director Tigmanshu Dhulia's film 'Haasil'. After that Irrfan worked in great films like Maqbool, Life of Pi, Lunchbox, Haider, Piku and Hindi Medium. Irrfan Khan was honored with the National Award for the film 'Paan Singh Tomar'. In the year 2011, the Government of India honored him with Padmashree.