The world mourns the loss of Irrfan Khan

The untimely death of the noted Indian actor Irrfan Khan has sent shockwaves all across the globe. At the time when the whole world is battling the Coronavirus pandemic the news of Irrfan’s tragic death has brought the whole world together. While the whole country is mourning his death with the leading names from different walks of life offering the versatile actor heartfelt tributes the international media as well as celebrities (and artists) are also busy acknowledging the exploits of one of India’s most renowned global actors. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian compared him to George Clooney.

“You could almost call him Mumbai’s Clooney — although it would be condescending to explain this colossal Indian star in Hollywood terms,” Bradshaw wrote while describing him as “an enormously valuable bridge between South Asian and Hollywood cinema.” Writing for Los Angeles Times, Lorraine Ali described Irrfan as “a master at conveying complex feelings in the smallest of acts” while assertingthat “Khan was a conduit to that pain and love, that loss and redemption; a master in the art of emotive silence.”

BBC’s obituary highlighted Irrfan’s ability to make most of his strength as a performer while overcoming what he lacked, “Khan lacked the looks for a traditional Bollywood romantic lead but made his name as a character actor in Hindi cinema and in Hollywood productions like Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire and Jurassic World.”

Al Jazeera’s obit piece aptly described Irrfan as “one of the best crossover actors” who “consciously sidestepped traditional Bollywood tropes, focusing on the subtleties of his craft”which “allowed him to carve out a stellar career in Hollywood as well, where he collaborated with Oscar-winning directors such as Danny Boyle and Ang Lee and appeared in the HBO show In Treatment.”

France24 while acknowledging what the maverick actor achieved in his illustrious career also highlighted the big challenge he faced as an actor right at the onset. “Khan discovered an early passion for acting and studied at the elite National School of Drama. But his training in Shakespeare and Chekhov did little to ease his entry into the Hindi film industry, which was largely focused at the time on churning out formulaic song-and-dance blockbusters.”

Katie Scott while writing for Global News, a division of the Canadian Global Television Network, touched upon Khan’s acting accolades which included a National Film Award for best actor for his performance in Paan Singh Tomarand an Independent Spirit Award for supporting actor in 2006 for Mira Nair’s The Namesake as well as a Viewers’ Choice Award at the Cannes festival 2013 for his role Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.Germany’s DW News wrote, “Alongside Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth and Om Puri, Khan was among the first line of Indian actors to leave a mark in Hollywood and Anglo-American cinema.”

Mira Nair, who directed Irrfan in Salam Bombay and Namesake, told The New York Times, “For Americans he’s in the realm of Jean-Paul Belmondo or Marcello Mastroianni or Omar Sharif, even — clearly from some other culture but having great appeal to be seen as anything from an Everyman type to a very quiet and intelligent sort of sex appeal.”

Danny Boyle, the Oscar-winning director of Slumdog Millionaire, while acknowledging the contribution of Irrfan to the success of the film told BBC, “Irrfan was a wonderful actor and was a pivotal figure in the making of Slumdog Millionaire. It wasn't a huge role and, in fact, on paper it was even less rewarding looking. But Irrfan saw the possibility of guiding our audience with his dignity, his grace, his charm, his intelligence and his calmness, though this crossword puzzle of a, an idea of a film."

Actor Riz Ahmed, the star of films such as Nightcrawler, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Jason Bourne, Rouge One, and Venom, among others while describing Irrfan as one of the greatest actors of the era wrote, “I never met him but he was an inspiration and a hero to me and millions of others. His work was consistently transcendent, he was a guiding light for so many of us.”

Hollywood superstar Chris Pratt and Irrfan’s costar in Jurassic World described him as a “screen legend” and “an exquisite actor and human” in a tweet. Colin Trevorrow, the director of Jurassic World, described Irrfan as “a thoughtful man who found beauty in the world around him, even in pain.”

His namesake costar Karl Penn tweeted, “Never seen someone use the beats of silence so beautifully to convey so much about who we are.” Khan’s Slumdog Millionaire costar Freida Pinto, in an Instagram post, shared a photo of herself with Slumdog Millionaire stars Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor along with Irrfan from the SAG Awards. She described the tragic loss as “a void that can never be filled because there was simply no one like Irrfan Khan.”

Irrfan Khan was one of the few truly international movie icons of the 21st century. He may have left us but he will continue to live in our hearts forever. His formidable body of work will continue to serve as a testament to his prodigious acting talents and his remarkable humanity and kindness until the end of time.