Irrfan Khan passed away this week at the young age of 53. There are few actors who grace the screen quite as he did. It is an immense loss. He starred in a number of movies both Indian and international, but here are a few of my favorite Irrfan Khan films:
Ritesh Batra’s Lunchbox is in a class by itself. The film has very few main characters and they are ordinary people busy in their humdrum lives, but convey so much with their understated actions, the sighs and the glances, the thinking before the doing. Little tragedies sprung upon when doing the mundane work of one’s life, the washing of laundry, the cooking of food.
The story made the heart-strings twang, and the film conveyed the emotions so beautifully. Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur played the unlikely friends in this hopeful, engrossing, immersive tale.
This is of the time long long ago when we actually looked forward to director Vishal Bharadwaj’s movies, confident in our knowledge that his brilliant storytelling would blow us away. For this particular retelling of Macbeth, Bharadwaj chose Irrfan Khan to play the titular role of Maqbool.
Pankaj Kapoor played crime boss Abbaji (Lord Duncan), and Tabu played his mistress, Nimmi. Nimmi and Maqbool are secretly in love, and Nimmi convinces Maqbool to follow her diabolical plan to make her his. Bloodshed and mayhem follow.
DDay featured Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor, both of whom passed away this past week – Kapoor as notorious criminal Iqbal Seth aka Goldman and Khan as undercover RAW agent Wali Khan trying to nab him.
The film was beautifully wrought, and stunningly paced. The music was fabulous. But then it was the acting – there was Huma Qureshi, Arjun Rampal, Aakash Dahiya and above all Irrfan Khan – which made the film what it is.
Boy meets girl but then there’s the villain who will have none of it – he wants the girl all to himself. Irrfan Khan played the bad guy Rannvijay Singh with such understated malevolence, that you were afraid for the hero. Tigmanshu Dhulia directed Haasil and Jimmy Shergill and Hrishita Bhatt featured in it. Khan starred.
This is another tale of unlikely romance. There’s Bhashkor (the father), Piku (the daughter) and Rana (the local taxi-driver/business owner).
The father is cantankerous, the daughter sharp with words and the golden-hearted taxi-driver the patient voice of reason. Irrfan Khan is magnificent here – dealing with this hard-to-handle father-daughter pair in his wry, winsome way. Pike was lovely, and Khan was lovelier.
