Irfan

I saw Irfan for the first time on television in the eighties. It was a different world with the good old Doordarshan as the only channel for visual media artists who themselves were barely emerging out of the long shadows of theater and literature. Primetime serials carried ambitious projects upon the shoulders of the middle of the road heavyweights like Nasrudheen Shah, Om Puri, Shyam Benegal, etc.

There was Kathasagar (1986), a haphazard collection of episodes loosely based on short stories from world literature. One of them was Chekhov's Ward No. 6 in which Irfan played the role of a doctor opposite Pankaj Berry, the hard-headed inmate in the mental asylum. Irfan presented the turmoil boiling over in the doctor's mind as the doctor's empathy for the patient evolves when he begins to question the sanity of the world around him. By the end of that twenty-odd minutes, one could see that we just watched something special. Even a casual viewer would make an instant connection with the character, his world and see what Irfan wanted you to see and feel. There was no hint of make-belief or artist pulling his rank. He appeared and behaved like an outsider having a look into the world of television.

Irfan did have more than a look into the hallowed halls of not just Indian cinema, international cinema too. He proved to the world that he had so much more to offer than the stereotypes of Slumdog millionaire. However, what was strikingly remarkable about him was that he kept his endearing persona exactly the same even after more than 30 years of an acting career that scaled incredible heights. Pick any movie, you will know what went through the minds of each of Irfan's characters. Their joys and struggles would appear so real, more so in an Indian setting. Incidentally, the majority of his movies had journeys as a theme, in which Irfaan reveled while unwinding the inner transformation of his own and others' around him. He cherished the quintessential Indian and it was easy for anyone to spot. Irfan has been having a look into them from outside.

In Paan Singh Tomar (2012), there was a scene when Irfan's character has had his chance to avenge the adversary who'd forced him off the edge of endurance and made him lose everything he earned from a lifetime of steeplechases against all odds. He wanted now time to stop and plead his case to his nemesis and ruminate over what could have been; how a callous society failed a soldier and a champion athlete. You'd feel the same anguish you had watching the doctor lose the game of wits with the world in Ward No. 6. Irfan brings you closer to the character and his world again

You wouldn't see Irfan make gratuitous statements for political masters or find him hang out among elites stoking religious divisions. He was still an outsider having a look into the world to redeem it for all of us. He will be missed. RIP.