Shoojit Sircar remembers Irrfan Khan on his birth anniversary
Thursday marks the 54th birth anniversary of Irrfan Khan, and filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, who was a close friend of the late actor, fondly recalled shooting with him for his 2015 release, Piku. Sircar tells IANS: “On the last few days of his schedule he would say, ‘dada can’t we go on shooting like this. I am feeling like free bird, I don’t want this moment to stop. Please aap kuch bhi kara lo mujhse (you make me do anything). I can’t explain this feeling. Can’t we just go on and on?'”
Piku, also starring Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone, went on to become a commercial hit. “I really miss him,” Sircar concluded with a note of sadness in his voice.
Irrfan passed away on April 29 last year after suffering colon infection. He had also battled neuroendrocrine cancer and received treatment in the UK, before he came back to India in February 2020.
On Thursday, Irrfan’s son Babil shared an unseen video of him and his wife Sutapa Sikdar to mark his 54th birth anniversary. Sharing a video of Irrfan Khan struggling with a video call, Babil Khan gave a shoutout to all “technologically inept parents.” He marked the special occasion by sharing the old family video on Instagram where Irrfan, his wife Sutapa, and their younger son Ayan are seen trying to video call Babil. Both Irrfan and Sutapa are seen calling out Babil’s name, while Ayan is seen laughing as the connection of the call seems to be lost and yet Irrfan and Sutapa kept calling Babil’s name.
“Babil… we miss him (Babil),” the late ‘Hindi Medium’ actor said in the video. Khan’s son penned an emotional caption on his father’s birth anniversary remembering how he never identified with institutions like “birthday celebrations.” “You never identified with institutions such as contractual marriage and birthday celebrations. Perhaps, that is why I don’t remember anyone’s birthdays because you never remembered mine and never encouraged me to remember yours,” he wrote in the caption.
Irrfan Khan, one of India’s most versatile and loved actors, left an indelible mark on both Indian and international cinema with his performances in films like “Maqbool”, “The Lunchbox”, “Paan Singh Tomar” and “The Namesake”.
(With IANS inputs)