Late actor Irrfan Khan would have turned 54 on Thursday. Sharing a post about him, his elder son Babil talked about how the actor never believed in celebrating birthdays but this time, he could not forget his birthday even if he tried.
Babil captioned his throwback video as, “You never identified with institutions such as contractual marriage and birthday celebrations. Perhaps, that is why I don’t remember anyone’s birthdays because you never remembered mine and never encouraged me to remember yours. It was just normal to us what seemed absurd from the outside, we celebrated everyday (bringing personal experiential authenticity to the cliche). On the occasion, Mamma would have to remind us both; but this time I could not forget yours if I tried. It’s your birthday Baba. Shoutout to all the technologically inept parents, notice that they did not finish saying that they miss me.”
In an interaction with E Times, filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia, who worked with the actor in Haasil (2003) and Paan Singh Tomar (2012) recalled his first meeting with the late actor stating that the first time he saw Irrfan and Sutapa in action was in NSD where they were enacting the play Fujiyama.
Shoojit Sircar, who directed the late actor in the 2015 film Piku said that the death of Irrfan has left a vacuum, saying that his death was, perhaps, the biggest loss to the film industry in 2020. The director said that what stood about Irrfan was his spirit as a human being and his simplicity of belief in humanity. The director revealed they exchanged books in the last two years when he was going through his treatment and that they had a lot of conversations about a number of things other than cinema.
Veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt who was friends with the actor shared a poignant note stating that the memory of the late actor fills him with warmth, adding that 2020 has been catastrophic and that for many, who have lost their loved ones, it has been brutal.
The note to The Times of India, saw the filmmaker quoting lines from an anonymous poet often referred to by the late actor, “But for every joy that passes, something beautiful remains.” He concluded by stating that the memories of the time he spent with the late actor continue to flicker in his heart.
