To The One, Who Stood His Ground

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Watching movies together have been one of three things I have been used to do since childhood with my family, other two being watching Cricket and having food. If I stretch my memories, I could go back to movies like Anari (1993). For the next several years, we four in the family used to go to a theatre on the bike ably driven by father to the nearest Ganesh Talkies in a small town in Odisha. Then the access to VCRs reduced theatre visit by family but the movie bug always remained.

Then I started going to the theatre with friends. I picked all kinds of movies, but the choices were not much. Smaller movies never made it to all parts of the country in the early 2000s. But I was keen on watching the non-mainstream movies. Hence, movies like Dil Chahta, Lakshya, Swades, Rang De Basanti & Munnabhai series were few movies which was a marriage between commerce and content.

Then I entered the phase where I was exposed to World Cinema (mostly English, few French, Chinese & Italian). I was in awe. In awe of their content, scale, respect to the writers, research on the script and so on. My hunger and complaint on why we do not make movies like them grew. This was the late 2000s. What baffled me was that we have had filmmakers like Satyajit Ray to Hrishikesh Mukherji to Gulzar to Shyam Benegal to Govind Nihalani and so many who already have left us a legacy of brave, independent projects which was rarely carried forward.

The movies saw an upward trend in terms of content post 2010 where the differentiation between art/parallel cinema and mainstream cinema started blurring. Fortunately, the audience also supported. Though we still have mindless potboilers still coming out in theatres, we also have enough movies with content being produced in mainstream. And the regional cinema of Malayalam, Marathi & Bengali is on a different level.

During this journey of mine from 1992/93 till now, roughly three decades, there were many actors who waited to do some good work. Many faded away during their struggle, few took up whatever they got to survive and pay bills, yet very few decided to stick to their basics and wait for the right content. Out of those very few, one shining light always beamed through. The name was Irrfan Khan. Someone who started working from 1987/88, kept at it for years even if he had to wait long enough to get good work. He was the answer to kind of characters we wanted to see on screen. Over the next three decades he worked, he not only became one of best Indian actors to have worked, but also became the most recognized Indian face in the International arena, with some meaningful work to his filmography.

Every now and then, he did some work which will be remembered for decades to come. His craft was such that even the Ad films he did are still remembered fondly. His signature style was to be effortless in front of the camera, as if it never existed, as if he is speaking to someone in real, as if this is the only thing he loves to do. And that is why we all connected to him, we found him to one of us. The way we behave, speak, emote, just the way we are. He connected to audiences across the board and appealed to all age groups, my mother being one of his long time admirers.

There is no point in me writing about the movies which he did that will remain as timeless classics for generations to watch and admire his talent, because that is there in public domain for you to consume. For me, personally, he played a vital part in transforming the Indian Cinema that we are witnessing today. He made young ones believe in themselves that waiting can also be rewarding. He taught us that shortcuts are no substitute to perseverance and penchant to do only and only good work. He taught us to be true to ourselves because superficialty was not a part of his dictionary even when he was struggling to get good work.

I hope to revisit his work, all of it, including some of the lesser seen work he has done for Doordarshan. I hope to see a new layer of his acting skills everytime I watch him, he was that good. I hope to find many roles that he played, within me, around me. I hope to find new meanings to the same characters.

Irrfan dropped his surname long back saying that he wanted his work to get recognition not his surname. This was just one of the many things that made him different, made him special. He won all the battles life threw at him, except the one against life itself. The year 2020, which is his last, will become the first year of his legacy. And his legacy is here to live till eternity.

To Monty, Maqbool, Ashoke Ganguli, Billu, Paan Singh, Pi, Roohdar, Rana, Ashwin Kumar and Saajan Fernandes to many such people I have interacted with virtually, we shall meet soon, at a screen near me.