RIP Irrfan Khan: A Fan's recollection of "a True Gem'

I am part of the group of people in the world who knew the actor only through the silver screen and social media. I believe, Irrfan Khan had a rare gift. He had the power to leave behind a unique signature in the minds of many of us. The most important element of this actor that comes to me is his unique style of acting. I feel he had an uncanny knack of delivering dialogs onscreen. Some of the dialogs delivered had a clever and funny pun. As I was a person who always searched for the depth in a statement, watching Irrfan's movies were highly entertaining and rewarding. Today, reflecting on why his style of dialog delivery and quotes always fascinated me takes me back to my childhood days. 

As a child I idolized my father. To me he was a person of few words. But though he spoke very less, his words were always power-packed and mixed with good humor. I was always interested in the anecdotes that he shared, even though very rare. My elder cousin sister reminisce an incident from her childhood. She shared - during her high-school days in the late 80s', the sight of a girl talking to a boy was frowned upon. She was always an extrovert and liked talking to all her classmates, with boys being no different. Once on the school bus, when she shared her seat with a classmate who was a boy, the news of the incident reached her parents as a complaint. She was confused about the situation on why that was a complaint. During one of those days, my father happened to be visiting her house. She narrated the incident to him. With the same calmness with which he listened to her story, he replied "It is not wrong to sit with your friend (boy), but make sure you don't sit with the same friend (boy) every day." A perfect solution for a teenager without curbing her freedom. I feel it could be my affinity to my father's style of conversing that made me connect with Irrfan Khan onscreen. 

Irrfan Khan: The unconventional actor with a powerhouse of talent

I had been in a different game, I was travelling on a speedy train ride, had dreams, plans, aspirations, goals, was fully engaged in them. And suddenly someone taps on my shoulder and I turn to see... it's the TC: " Your destination is about to come. Please get down." I am confused: " No, no. My destination hasn't come"  "No this is it. This is how it is sometimes" quoted by Irrfan Khan 

I am intrigued by the clarity of thought of a person who can sum up life in such thought-provoking words. But I am not surprised these words are from Irrfan Khan.

We all know that Irrfan was born in Jaipur into a humble household. But what inspired me was that his background was never a limiting point in his life, he broke all odds with his determination and perseverance to come into the glittering world of Bollywood. He definitely had his share of struggle to get into Bollywood, but his first film 'Salaam Bombay, nominated for Academy Awards' marked the arrival of the actor to the Indian cinema. He later went on to be an international star with many blockbuster movies under his belt. His presence in movies like Slumdog Millionaire, The Amazing Spiderman, Life of Pi, Jurassic World and, Inferno made him an international star. There was a reference online about Irrfan who loved the movie Jurassic Park but did not have the money to watch the movie in the theatre. The same person elevated himself multifold in life when he got the opportunity to act in Jurassic World.  

Irrfan's Mesmerizing Movies

That said, some of the cinemas of Irrfan, I love to remember would be - The Namesake, Life in a... Metro, The Lunchbox, Piku, and Hindi Medium. Some of the dialogs from these movies are still fresh in my mind. Like a scene in the movie 'The Namesake', where Irrfan walks with his young son on a rocky road leading to the sea. Reaching almost to the end of the road he realizes, he has left the camera in the car. Feeling the sadness inside he tells his son "do remember when you grow up that we had walked on a road at the end of which there is nothing." I think some of us can relate to this dialog in their life. 

Similarly, another strong scene I cherish is from the movie 'Life in a... metro'. The conversation between Irrfan and a confused Konkona Sen Sharma on a beach. The subtle story that Irrfan tells Konkona about his friend who had purchased a car 5years back but had decided to take the car out only when all the traffic signals in the city turns green. The reply from Konkona Sen is obvious "your friend is crazy unless he takes his car out how can he be sure." Irrfan finishes off with a killer lucid reply " Exactly... take your chance baby..." The statement made me think, yes definitely we should grab our chances. The way forward is not always in our hands. Trust our instincts and keep walking. 

The above said I am not trying to undermine the contributions of any scriptwriter. But I believe the beauty of a dialog is when there is a face and personality associated with the dialogs. And I believe Irrfan brought in an additional dimension with his dialog delivery and screenplay.

The lockdown has been tough for many of us. The world has lost many loved ones. The loss will always bear a vacuum in the hearts of their near and dear ones. At this juncture let us stand with the family of all those people who have experienced a loss in their lives. I believe Irrfan is blessed to leave behind a plethora of extraordinary movies through which he will live forever in the hearts of fans like us. To sign off, I like to believe Irrfan Khan grew bigger than the silver screen and moved to shine bright on our night sky...

If you like the post pls do share...