Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan, credited as Irrfan Khan or simply Irrfan, was an Indian movie actor. He’s known for his work predominantly in Hindi cinema, in addition to British and American films. In 2011, Khan was awarded the Padma Shri.
Early Life
Irrfan Khan was born in Jaipur, to a Muslim family. Khan’s mother, Begum, was from the Tonk Hakim family, and his father, the late Jagirdar, was from the Khajuriya village near the Tonk district and ran a tyre business. He was studying for his M.A. degree when he snagged a fellowship at (NSD) National School of Drama in 1984. After graduating in 1987, he moved to Mumbai. Khan has a lengthy list of credits from his consistently excellent work in Indian cinema, but he has recently made the transition into English language films.
Career
Khan made his film debut with a small role in Salaam Bombay! (1988), which was followed by years of struggle. After starring in the British film The Warrior (2001), he had his breakthrough with starring roles in the dramas Haasil (2003) and Maqbool (2004). He went on to gain critical acclaim for his roles in The Namesake (2006), Life in a… Metro (2007), and Paan Singh Tomar (2011). For portraying the title character in the last of these, he won the National Film Award for Best Actor.
He was credited as Irrfan Khan in the 2012 U.S. film The Amazing Spider-Man. He recently appeared in Partition, directed by Vic Sarin and A Mighty Heart for Michael Winterbottom, opposite Angelina Jolie. Irrfan is first Bollywood actor to star in two films that won the Academy Award for Best Director (Danny Boyle‘s Slumdog Millionaire and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, costarred Suraj Sharma). Most Hindi movie actors disappear when they hit middle age, but Khan arrived at an age when others retire. His unconventional looks and intense eyes gained him the coveted title role in the film Maqbool (2003), a Hindi interpretation of Macbeth set in the Bombay underworld. Khan’s stunning performance as Maqbool won all the major Indian acting awards.
He garnered further awards for his portrayal of a student leader who rises from nowhere but falters before he can reach his pinnacle in Haasil (2003), a love story set against university politics (Allahabad). Critics hailed it as a rare performance in Hindi cinema. Khan’s most challenging role came in British director Asif Kapadia’s acclaimed The Warrior (2001), winner of the BAFTA award for Best Film in 2003. Khan plays a lone warrior who renounces his violent role as the law enforcer to a local lord, only to be murderously pursued into the Himalayan Mountains.
Personal Life
On 23 February 1995, Khan married writer and fellow NSD graduate Sutapa Sikdar. They had two sons.
In 2012, he changed the spelling of his name from “Irfan” to “Irrfan”; he said he liked the sound of the extra “r” in his name.In 2016, he dropped Khan from his name because he wanted his work to define him, not his lineage.
Illness & Death
In March 2018, Khan was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumor. He died of a colon infection caused by the tumor in Mumbai on 29 April 2020, aged 53.
Profile of Irrfan Khan
- Name: Sahabzade Irrfan Ali Khan
- Another name: Irrfan Khan
- Born: January 7, 1967
- Star Sign: Capricorn
- Birth Place: Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
- Died: April 29, 2020, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute, Mumbai, India Trending
- Height: 6 feet
- Color:
- Education: National School of Drama
- Profession: Actor
- Citizenship: Indian
- Language: Hindi, English
- Religion Muslim
Family of Irrfan Khan
- Spouse: Sutapa Sikdar (m. 23 February 1995)
- Parents: Sahabzade Yaseen Ali Khan, Sayeeda Begum
- Children: Babil Khan, Ayan Khan
Filmography of Irrfan Khan
- Schatten der Zeit (2004)
- The Warrior (2005)
- Chocolate (2005)
- Life in a Metro (2007)
- A Mighty Heart (2007)
- Partition (2008)
- Krazzy 4 (2008)
- Kal Kissne Dekha (2009)
- Acid Factory (2009)
- Knock Out (2010)
- Chillar Party (2011)
- The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
- Life of Pi (2012)
- D-Day (2013)
- Haider (2014)
- Jurassic World (2015)
- Madaari (2016)
- Inferno (2016)
