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Bollywood is clearly divided between the glitz-glamour and what is indeed called substance. While top superstars of the industry reflect the glamorous halves, we often tend to overlook what is substantial. Koimoi attempts to balance the divide and enmeshes both into what we hope is a good blend. While Twitter, Facebook and BBM is flooding with Bipasha’s Birthday Messages from fans, here’s Koimoi saluting another star, perhaps less glamorous to the audience, but abundant in talent, versatility and could easily pass as the most skilled actor of our times. Happy Birthday Irrfan Khan!
Irrfan Khan is a direct product of the Indian Television Dramas of the 1990s. He has starred in popular daily time shows like Chandrakanta, Chanakya, Banegi Apni Baat and so on. He has featured on many episodes of Star Bestsellers and Bhanwar.
The later parts of 1990s were a rough time for Khan. Despite giving brilliant performances and winning applauds from critics, his work in great films like Ek Doctor Ki Maut directed by legendary film maker Tapan Sinha and Such a Long Journey went unnoticed by the audiences. Irrfan Khan then featured in The Warrior which released with great pomp and show at International Film Festivals. And he immediately turned into a star in those circuits.
The early years of this millennium proved to be good for him. His film Road To Ladakh was praised by the critics. He also worked with Vishal Bharadwaj in Maqbool which was the Indian adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Bollywood welcomed him in mainstream cinema with Rog in 2005 which again garnered much critical acclaim. In 2007, we played the adorable Monty opposite Konkona Sen Sharma in Anurag Basu’s Metro. And one cannot deny that he gave Monty, certain glamour-less raw wit which no other actor could have given.
He worked with Tabu in Mira Nair’s Namesake, an adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s bestselling novel of the same name. The film won accolades at many International Film Festivals. Khan went on to work with Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart which officially made him the face of Indian cinema in Hollywood. The biopic Paan Singh Tomar merely joined the list of the wonderful work this actor has done. He is also seen in HBO’s series In Treatment (Season 3). He also played Dr Ratha in The Amazing Spiderman last year. Undoubtedly, as critics in Hollywood pointed out, he was a man whose eyes spoke in blend with his acting. He can reach the subconscious levels of the character so well, that his performances are flawless.
