Irrfan Khan is best known for his roles in Paan Singh Tomar, The Namesake, and Life of Pi, among others. While Irrfan could pull off some critically acclaimed roles, he also had a parallel track in his career – the one where he made some odd choices but was completely self-aware of it. Irrfan was the best part of an otherwise mediocre film in Thank You, Aan: Men At Work and a few others, but it was obvious that the actor was in on the joke. Irrfan’s presence in these films served as a reminder to the audience that they should not take it seriously, because even he wasn’t.
Irrfan Khan played a cheating husband in Anees Bazmee’s Thank You. The film’s plot was completely idiotic, and Irrfan was well aware that he wasn’t making cinematic history here. In 2017, he told Film Companion about how he works on such characters, “Don’t research the character, don’t find its background, and don’t observe its behaviour.” Don’t bring in all of these shades, and don’t overwork it. Simply go with the flow. Have a good time working on Anees Bazmee’s film. You understood the humour. You’ve had a good time, so go on the sets and have a good time.”
Thank You is a comedy, but you have to wonder how Irrfan Khan ended up in Sanjay Gupta’s green-tinted world in Jazbaa. Irrfan was yelling things like, “Rishto pe bharosa aur mobile pe network naa ho toh log game khelne lagte hain.” He describes it as “attitude vali acting” in one of his interviews. Jazbaa was over-the-top, with Aishwarya Rai yelling her lungs out, while Irrfan casually delivered his dramatic dialogues as if it were just another day at the office. In a one-liner-heavy film, “I’ve got to have fun with it,” I tell myself. It’s not something you should be sceptical about. “Just have fun,” he said to FC in the same conversation.
This persona of the actor was evident in the few AIB sketches he performed back then. His Bollywood party song video with the comedy group was a dig at all the club songs that were popular in Hindi films at the time, and Irrfan wasn’t afraid to poke fun at himself while he was at it.
Irrfan was truly a master at balancing his art with something that shouldn’t be taken seriously, because how else would you explain the fact that the year he appeared in The Namesake was also the year he did The Killer with Emraan Hashmi? Irfan played a psychopath on a murder spree in The Killer, and while nothing about the film was remotely good, Irfan seemed to know why he was there – to have fun. He could simply deliver the lines with a straight face and not try too hard, and the audience would realise that Irrfan was only there to deceive them.
In many ways, Slumdog Millionaire was Irrfan’s big introduction to the West. Slumdog opened a lot of doors for him, even though he had already appeared in a few significant films. Doors that could have led him to the best roles, but Irrfan chose to have fun while working in Hindi films. I suppose the closest analogy would be us choosing to watch something trash to love to hate it. Irrfan, on the other hand, never disliked it. When he chose films like Knock Out and Acid Factory, he wasn’t thinking critically.
On the anniversary of his death, his fans will undoubtedly recall some of his most celebrated films, but let us not forget that Irrfan was probably one of the coolest actors of his time, who did not look down on any type of cinema and had fun doing whatever he chose.
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