India woke up to the news of Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan’s demise on Wednesday. Several celebrities including Malayalam actors Parvathy and Dulquer Salmaan, who had collaborated with The Namesake actor in Hindi films, paid their respects on social media.
On Thursday, actor Fahadh Faasil joined his colleagues to mourn the loss of the talented Irrfan Khan. Although Fahadh acknowledges that he had never met Irrfan or even seen him in person for that matter, he says that he practically owes his acting career to the latter, as it was after watching his films that he was inspired to quit engineering school in America and return home to act.
In his tribute note, Fahadh reminisces his university days in America, where he lived on campus and would drive with his friend to the neighbourhood Pakistani grocery store to rent Indian DVDs over the weekend.
“On one such visit, Khalid Bhai, the store owner recommended a film called ‘Yuh Hota to Kya Hota’. The first thing I noticed was that the film was directed by Naseerudin Shah...That night, few minutes into the film, when the character Salim Rajabali (Irrfan Khan) came on screen, I turned to Nikunj (friend) and asked “who is this guy?”. I mean, there are actors who are intense, who are stylish and who are charming. In all honesty, this was the first time I ever saw an actor who was ORIGINAL on screen. And his name was IRRFAN KHAN,” Fahadh wrote.
Watching Irrfan Khan on screen was a whole new experience for Fahadh. In his letter, the actor says that he would get so carried away by Irrfan's performance that the rest of the narrative didn't matter. "He made acting look so easy and I was fooled,” he wrote.
It was ‘amidst discovering Irrfan Khan’, that Fahadh decided ‘to drop out of engineering school and return to India. To act in films.’
Fahadh also writes that in the 10 years that he has spent in the film industry, he regrets not having met Irrfan Khan and shaken hands with him.
“Even when my dear friend Dulquer was shooting with Irrfan in our hometown, I couldn’t meet him as I was going through a hectic schedule myself, I had no reason to believe why I had to rush...I should have just gone to Bombay and met him,” Fahadh adds.
In his letter, Fahadh says that he can ‘only imagine the loss for family and friends’. “I feel sorry for the writers and filmmakers who will experience a vacuum with this loss. We just didn’t have enough of him,” he writes.
Fahadh also confesses that when his wife and actor Nazriya broke the news of Irrfan Khan’s death to him, he was not shocked initially and just ‘went about doing his work’.
However, “the entire day went by today and I could not stop thinking about him. I feel obliged to him. I feel like I owe my career to him. I don’t think I would have ever come this far if I had not picked up that DVD and watched an actor who changed my life,” he says.
Fahadh is an award-winning actor who has also found fame outside of Kerala, thanks to films like Maheshinte Prathikaram, Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum and Kumbalangi Nights which have spread his name wide and far.