Irrfan Khan Birth Anniversary: A walk down memory lane; unseen pictures of maverick actor

Bollywood lost its gem too soon leaving his family, friends, film fraternity and his sea of fans in complete shock. His untimely demise has left a void in everyone's hearts. His demise is not just a loss to the world of cinema but his charismatic poetic personality is rare to find, there will never be another Irrfan-like persona on-screen. A man of few words, his witness and sense of humour were unparallel. The actor par excellence battled a rare form of cancer a Neuroendocrine Tumour for almost two years. Irrfan bid adieu to the world on April 29, 2020.

It's been over two years since we lost the gem of cinema and theatre. The late actor's sons - Babil and Ayaan are keeping the memories of their father alive.

On Irrfan's 56th birth anniversary, let's take a trip down memory lane and revisit rare and unseen pictures of the maverick actor that are pure gold!

Irrfan's illustrious career

With an illustrious career spanning decades, Irrfan began his journey in showbiz on the small screen. He was featured in the docu-series Bharat Ek Khoj as well as fictional shows such as Chanakya and Chandrakanta. He worked in several TV shows before his big leap onto the silver screen the National School of Dramate from the National School of Drama. He worked for more than a decade-and-a-half in the industry before bagging a role in the 2003 film, Haasil.

His character roles in Gunday (2014) to crime thrillers such as Rog (2005) and Chocolate (2005) and 'different' cinema, like Vishal Bhardwaj's Maqbool (2004) and Tigmanshu's Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns (2013) was lauded well by critics and fans. Fans were in awe of Irrfan's hero image in films like Hindi Medium and Qarib Qarib Singlle, where he played a lover and husband wooing a girl, dancing and enjoying. From doing serious character roles to playing unleashing his serious image. Irrfan proved his mettle not just in cinema but also in films across the globe.

Much before Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Deepika Padukone, it was Irrfan to make India proud by doing international films.

Irrfan's Hollywood films, we bet you didn't know!

He was a part of Hollywood international projects like 'Amazing Spider-Man', 'Jurassic World', The Namesake, 'A Mighty Heart' and 'The Inferno'.

His role in Life of Pi, directed by Taiwanese director Ang Lee, also won several Academy Awards.

Awards and rewards

Irrfan received the Filmfare Awards for Haasil, Life in a Metro, Paan Singh Tomar and Hindi Medium.

Following in his father's footsteps Irrfan's son Babil Khan made his debut in 2022 with the Netflix film Qala

Recently in an interview, Irrfan Khan's son and actor Babil Khan spoke about how he was motivated to dive into acting after his father's death in 2020 Babil also shared his memories of dealing with his father's death in an interview promoting Qala.

Babil recounts how he gathered the strength to deal with the loss of his father, "When it first happened, the first day, I didn't believe it. One week had passed and it hit then. And then I just went into a really bad spiral. I just locked myself in my room for one and a half months. Back then he used to shoot so much that he'd be gone for a long shooting schedule. When it just happened, I had somehow convinced myself that he'll come back after the shooting schedule. And then I slowly started realising that this is an indefinite shooting schedule. He's not coming back. I just lost my best friend. It was devastating on a level that I can't really put into words."

Irrfan will always be alive in the hearts and minds of his fans with his impeccable performance.