Irrfan was a great actor, and also a good human being. I believe the two should go hand-in-hand, that a good artiste should by nature be a decent human being. But it doesn’t always happen that way. There are many brilliant artists who are vermins of the earth.
Irrfan balanced his aesthetic acme with moral equity to match. He never did anything that would compromise his sense of self-worth, never stole roles from other actors, never had an extra-marital affair, never spoke harshly to his staff members when nobody was looking, never made anyone uneasy or uncomfortable with his words.
The one thing that bothered him was the lack of commercial success. He didn’t like the label of a ‘serious’ actor which he felt was by its very definition, debilitating. Irrfan was always keen to work in massy films.
I remember how hurt and bewildered he used to be by the lack of commercial success at one point in his career. “I see my colleagues do such a good job of marketing themselves. I wonder how they do it! I can’t. I continue to believe that my work will do all the talking for me. I really want to find widespread commercial acceptance in Hindi cinema. I want producers to see me as commercially viable. My films should be able to make a small profit so that I am considered a saleable actor.”
Irrfan had a special tuning with Tabu. She was his favourite co-star. Like Shabana for Naseeruddin Shah, Tabu knew exactly when to hold Irrfan and when to let him go on camera.
Ever since he got to share some extraordinarily intimate moments with Tabu in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool and Mira Nair’s The Namesake, Irrfan was pining to complete his trilogy of romantic films with his favourite actress. Sadly, the films that Irrfan was offered with Tabu after Maqbool and The Namesake had no scope for any intimacy between them. In Ang Lee’s Life Of Pi, he did not have a single shot with Tabu. In Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haidar also Irrfan shared no screen space with Tabu. Irrfan requested Vishal for some screen moments with Tabu in Haidar. But the request was turned down.
Irrfan’s favourite actors were Shashi Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman. As a child, he remembered stealing away to watch their films. Irrfan’s mother always thought acting was not such a respectable thing to do. Irrfan didn’t have the heart to correct her. Sadly Irrfan never got a chance to work with Shashi Kapoor. But he did get to work with Waheeda Rehman in one of the last films he did before his abrupt end: Anup Singh’s The Song Of The Scorpions.
Anup wanted Irrfan to play a cross-dresser in his next film. Irrfan was, as usual, game. The internationally-acclaimed actor played a gay character in Mira Nair's The Migration.
Mira with whom Irrfan had a special bonding, offered him the part of the sweet, simple and straight farmer in the same anthological film. Irrfan saw no challenge in that. Instead, Irrfan played an unhappily married man in a secret anguished affair with another man in the film.
There were so many challenges waiting for Irrfan. But God had other plans.
Why did Irrfan fall so fatally ill? I remember he had once told me, “I do look after myself. But not in an obsessive way. I work-out. But in my own way. I follow the regime that my body demands and not what the physical trainer thinks my body requires. Besides that, I think I am getting to do the work that I want. Inner contentment always reflects on your face and body.”
A man who thought and lived like a monk deserved a better death.
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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by Subhash K Jha
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