As of 2017, his films had grossed$3.643 billion (₹237 billion) at the worldwide box office.[17] Khan was diagnosed withneuroendocrine cancer in March 2018,[18][19] and died from the disease on 29 April 2020.[4] Khan was described byPeter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian as "a distinguished and charismatic star in Hindi and English-language movies whose hardworking career was an enormously valuable bridge between South Asian and Hollywood cinema".[12] He was honoured in the 'In memoriam' segment of the93rd Academy Awards.[20]
Khan was born on 7 January 1967 into aPashtun family inTonk, Rajasthan.[21][22] Khan's mother, Saeeda Begum Khan was fromTonk, and his father, Yaseen Ali Khan, was from the Khajuriya village in Rajasthan'sTonk district, and they ran atyre business.[23][24][25][26] He spent his childhood in Tonk, and then Jaipur. Irrfan was good atcricket and was selected to play in theCK Nayudu Trophy for emerging players in the under-23 category, a tournament seen as a stepping stone tofirst-class cricket in India. However, he did not attend as he could not afford travel expenses.[27]
He showed interest in acting under the influence of his maternal uncle who himself was a theatre artist inJodhpur.[28] In Jaipur, Khan was introduced to noted theatre artists and did several stage performances in the city. Khan completed his MA inJaipur before joining theNational School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi in 1984 to study acting.[29][30]
In his early days in Mumbai, he took up a job as an air conditioner repairman and visited the home of his acting inspiration,Rajesh Khanna, in 1984.[31] Later in an interview Irfan stated, "The kind of craze witnessed by Rajesh Khanna has not been duplicated by anyone. He was the biggest and the most real starBollywood has produced. I'd say stardom is that feeling of being possessed by your idol; you are so overwhelmed with euphoria you lose touch with reality."[32]
Soon after his graduation from NSD in 1987, Khan made his debut withMira Nair'sSalaam Bombay! where he was offered a minor role. However, his scenes were reduced in the final cut.[33] He playedLenin in a teleplay onDoordarshan titledLaal Ghaas Par Neele Ghode, based on a translation byUday Prakash of a Russian play by Mikhail Shatrov.[33][34] He was then cast as a psycho killer, the main antagonist of the show, in the serialDarr.[34] He also played the famous revolutionary, Urdu poet and Marxist political activist of India,Makhdoom Mohiuddin, inKahkashan, produced byAli Sardar Jafri.[34] He acted in some of the episodes ofStar Bestsellers (aired on Star-Plus). He also appeared in two episodes of theSET India serialBhanvar. He acted in numerous television serials throughout the 1990s, includingChanakya,Bharat Ek Khoj,Sara Jahan Hamara,Banegi Apni Baat,Chandrakanta,Shrikant,AnooGoonj on Doordarshan,Star Bestsellers (Star Plus),Sparsh[35] andThe Great Maratha on DD National.[36] He also played a double role in the popular 90s supernatural fantasy period drama, Chandrakanta, which was based on a novel written by Devki Nandan Khatri in 1888.[37]
Asif Kapadia cast him as the lead inThe Warrior, a historical film completed in 11 weeks on location inHimachal Pradesh andRajasthan. In 2001,The Warrior opened at international film festivals.[43] Irfan Khan credited this film in preventing him giving up his acting career.[44]
Between 2003 and 2004, he acted inAshvin Kumar's short film,Road to Ladakh; the film received rave reviews at international festivals.[45] That same year, he played the title role in the critically acclaimedMaqbool, an adaptation ofShakespeare'sMacbeth.[46]
His firstBollywood lead role came in 2005 withRog. His performance was praised by critics; one wrote, "Irfaan's eyes speak louder than his words and every time he is in frame, be it talking to his buddy Manish or arguing with Suhel, he shows his capability as an actor".[47] Thereafter, he appeared in several films either playing the leading role or a supporting role as avillain. In 2004, he won theFilmfare Best Villain Award for his role inHaasil.[48] He also played anantagonist in the Telugu filmSainikudu.[49]
Khan played a police inspector in the 2008 filmSlumdog Millionaire, for which he and the cast of the movie wonScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. About him,Danny Boyle said, "he has an instinctive way of finding the 'moral centre' of any character, so that inSlumdog, we believe the policeman might actually conclude that Jamal is innocent." Boyle compared him to an athlete who can execute the same move perfectly over and over. "It's beautiful to watch."[52]
In 2009, he featured in the filmAcid Factory.[53] He appeared as anFBI agent inNew York (2009),[54] and oppositeNatalie Portman as a Gujarati diamond merchant in theMira Nair-directed segment of the eleven-part featureNew York, I Love You.[55] In 2010, he worked on the third season of the HBO seriesIn Treatment, enacting the part of Sunil, who is finding it difficult to come to terms with his wife's death and loneliness after moving to the New York City borough ofBrooklyn.[56]
In 2014, Khan appeared inGunday, which was a moderate box office success. He also made guest appearances in the filmsThe Xposé andHaider, playing an important role in the latter. In 2015, he played the lead role in the filmPiku alongsideDeepika Padukone andAmitabh Bachchan. Khan co-starred in the 2015 filmJurassic World. In the same year, he also appeared in the acclaimed thrillerTalvar in which his performance was praised. He appeared inJazbaa in October 2015 alongsideAishwarya Rai which was very well received by critics. He was next seen alongsideTom Hanks in the 2016 adaptation ofDan Brown'sRobert Langdon thrillerInferno.[60] That same year, he also starred inMadaari, a 2016 Indian social thriller film directed byNishikant Kamat.[61]
In 2017, Khan appeared in two films,Hindi Medium which was commercially and critically successful. Khan's portrayal as Raj Batra inHindi Medium earned him several accolades, one of which was theFilmfare Award for Best Actor.[62]Hindi Medium became a sleeper hit in India and China, becoming his highest-grossing Hindi release, surpassingThe Lunchbox.[59] He also starred inNo Bed of Roses (2017).[63] As of 2017, his films had grossed$3.643 billion (₹237 billion) at the worldwide box office.[17] His next release wasQarib Qarib Singlle oppositeParvathy Thiruvothu, who was making her debut in Hindi cinema.[64]
In September 2015, he was appointed thebrand ambassador for "Resurgent Rajasthan", a campaign by thestate government of Rajasthan.[69] He lent his voice to the light and sound show at the war memorial for the Indian army at Vidhan Sabha Road, Jaipur. The show portrayed the valour and courage of Rajasthani soldiers, and their historic and modern triumphs in battle.[70]
On 23 February 1995, Khan married writer and fellow NSD graduate Sutapa Sikdar. They have two sons, actorBabil and Ayan.[71]
In 2012, he changed the spelling of his first name from "Irfan" to "Irrfan"; he said he liked the sound of the extra "r" in his name.[72] He later dropped "Khan" from his name because according to a 2016 interview, he wanted his work and not his lineage to define him.[73]
In March 2018, he announced onTwitter that he had been diagnosed withneuroendocrine cancer.[74] He sought treatment in the UK for a year, and returned to India in February 2019. Khan was admitted to Mumbai'sKokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on 28 April 2020, where he started receiving treatment for acolon infection caused by the disease,[75] but only to die the next day, at 53 years old.[76][77] His mother Saeeda Begum, aged 93, had died just four days prior in Jaipur.[78]
Film personalities and literary figures around the globe paid tributes online upon the news of his death.[79][80] Khan was buried at the Versova Kabristan in Mumbai and his last rites were performed by his sons.[81]
^Saran, Sathya (7 March 2020)."'Irrfan Khan The Man, The Dreamer, The Star' review: Kite runner to actor".The Hindu.Archived from the original on 8 March 2020. Retrieved29 April 2020.We read with some surprise about the boy who preferred to fly kites than go hunting with his father, prompting his father to tell him he was a Brahmin born in the family of Pathans.
^Vasdev, Prakriti (29 April 2020)."The Life Journey Of Bollywood's Most Versatile Actor, Irrfan Khan".Daily Addaa. Archived fromthe original on 30 April 2020. Retrieved29 April 2020.Born as Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan on 7 January 1967 in Rajasthan's Tonk, Irrfan belonged to a Muslim Pathan family who retained a tire business.
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