Bhubaneswar: Irrfan Khan born as Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan on Jan 7, 1967 dived into the bollywood ocean inspired by none other than disco king and 80s superstar and Dada Sahab Phalke award winner Mithun Chakraborty.
In an interview, the versatile actor had said swayed by 80s rage, he was then sporting the popular ‘Mithun Cut’, some of his friends told him he was looking like Mithun Charkraborty. This has filled in the hunger in the young Irfan to travel on the bollywood path.”
POVERTY ECLIPSED CRICKETER DREAMS
Khan’s birthplace has been Tonk, Rajasthan. His mother, Saeeda Begum Khan was from Tonk, and father, Yaseen Ali Khan, was from the Khajuriya village in Rajasthan's Tonk district, and they ran a tyre business. He spent his childhood in Tonk, and then Jaipur.
Irrfan was good in cricket and was selected to play in the CK Nayudu Trophy for emerging players in the under-23 category, a tournament seen as a stepping stone to first-class cricket in India. But fate denied him the opportunity, as he could not afford travel expenses to play in the coveted trophy.
ON THE BOLLYWOOD PITCH
Khan made his film debut with a small role in Salaam Bombay! (1988), and was followed by years of struggle.
In 2001, he starred in an English film The Warrior. The actor’s fate turned somewhat benign when his roles in Haasil (2003) and Maqbool (2004) and Namesake in 2006 earned critical acclaim.
The actor broke into the A-list with his roles in Metro (2007) and Paan Singh Tomar (2011). His wonderful acting in depicting Paan Singh Tomar on screen, Irfan won the National Film Award for Best Actor.
No looking back since then.
Irfan had his glory with fine acting in films like The Lunchbox (2013), Piku (2015), and Talvar (2015) and in supporting roles in the Hollywood films such as The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Life of Pi (2012), Jurassic World (2015), and Inferno (2016). His other notable roles were in Slumdog Millionaire (2008), New York (2009), Haider (2014), and Gunday (2014), and the television series In Treatment (2010).
His highest-grossing Hindi film release came with the comedy-drama Hindi Medium (2017), and his final film appearance was in its sequel Angrezi Medium (2020), both of which won him the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in 2018 and 2021.
CURTAIN DOWNS ON IRFAN SHOW!
By 2017, his films had grossed $3.643 billion (Rs237 billion) at the worldwide box office. Khan was in high spirits after tasting success and money.
But it was March 2018, he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer, and he died from the disease on 29 April 2020 at the age of 53 years.
IRFAN TRIVIA
- 23 February 199: Khan married writer and fellow NSD graduate Sutapa Sikdar. They had two sons – Babil and Ayan.
- His career spanned over 30 years during which he won
- National Film Award
- an Asian Film Award
- Six Filmfare Awards.
- In 2011, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour.
- In 2021, he was posthumously awarded the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Khan was described by Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian as "a distinguished and charismatic star in Hindi and English-language movies.
- He was honored in the 'In memoriam' segment of 93rd Academy Awards.
- In 1984, in his early days in Mumbai, he took up a job as an air conditioner repairman and visited the home of Rajesh Khanna.
- In 2012, he changed the spelling of his first name from "Irfan" to "Irrfan"
