In the year 2016 Irrfan Khan produced a film called Madaari which was released after a lot of delay and the reviews to the film were far from flattering. Irrfan was shooting in a faraway location when he got news of the box-office collection and the reviews and was naturally upset. A day later, he called me to ask me if I had seen the film and what I thought of it, I took a pause not wanting to be instantly harsh and said, ‘Not up to the mark’. He was quiet for a while but absorbed the criticism clinically, said, ‘In that case, it seems like we have failed in our communication.’
Before disconnecting, he said he was relieved to hear the truth because now he will stop brooding and focus on his new film. I was amazed by his positive attitude and understood why his co-stars and directors looked forward to working with him again and again. In the coming years, our meetings became more and more infrequent. We exchanged messages on phone during Hindi Medium.
Soon came news of his diagnosis, his treatment abroad, his return home, his shooting followed by the release of English Medium, and then his demise. It all happened so rapidly that one wonders if one is imagining it. When the lockdown is over, I’ll visit the coffee shop where I first bumped into Irrfan Khan many years ago and maybe, I might just find him there, hanging out with his friends, smoking like old times and I’ll ask him how he can go away without saying goodbyes.
Concluded
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