Life doesn’t move the way you want because it is unpredictable, this quote perfectly defines the recent incident which took place in Bollywood with Irrfan Khan’s sudden demise. It was a shocker for the entire nation, the actor was just 54- year-old.
Irrfan, the versatile Bollywood actor was born and brought up in Jaipur. Since his childhood, Irrfan had a craving for acting. However, due to the unavailability of the right platform in the pink city in those days, he started engaging himself in street plays.
Irrfan started his career from theatre, he was eager to ensure the progress and development of theatre culture in India. Later, he ventured into Bollywood. However his Bollywood life was full of struggle, the actor first started his journey from television and did serials like ‘Chanakya’, ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’, ‘Sara Jahan Hamara’, ‘Banegi Apni Baat’, ‘Chandrakanta’, ‘Shrikant ‘, ‘AnooGoonj’, ‘Star Bestsellers’, and ‘Sparsh’. As he was doing his TV and theatre he landed a cameo in ‘Salaam Bombay’ in 1998 a film by Mira Nair which made his entry in Bollywood. But after that he got more opportunities to shine but his movies flopped and it seems that it was the end of his career but things started to change when a London based director Asif Kapadia gave him the lead in ‘The Warrior’ in 2001, a historical film which was completed in 11 weeks.
But his career’s turning point was yet to come and that was with the movie ‘Maqbool’ in 2003 an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Irrfan nailed it with his performance. After that Irrfan did many movies playing lead or supporting role but he received a Filmfare Best Villain Award for his role in film Haasil in 2003. But he got his solo break from the movie ‘Rog’ in 2005 and his performance was critically appreciated but the film couldn’t do well at the box office and flopped. And after that Irrfan was a known face in the Bollywood industry. Irrfan also did many Hollywood movies like ‘Life of Pi’, ‘Jurrasic World’, ‘Inferno’, and many more. The actor had opened all the doors for all sorts of movies in any language. Irrfan has also received the Padma Shri award in 2011 and the National award for the best actor for the film ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ in 2013.
On March 5, 2018, the world woke up to the news that the talented actor was seriously unwell. Later, on March 16, 2018, the actor released another statement to confirm that he had been diagnosed with a rare disease called a neuroendocrine tumour. After initial treatment, the actor flew to London to avail the best possible medical care. Through much of that year and the following year, nothing was heard from the actor other than an occasional interview of his, done during that period, which he shared on Twitter. Sometime, in 2019, his health reportedly showed signs of improvement and he began shooting for the first time after diagnosis, Angrezi Medium, a sequel to his hit 2017, Hindi Medium.
We will surely miss the legend. RIP Irrfan.
