Irrfan breathed his last on April 29 at the age of 54. He was admitted to Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital with a colon infection last week. However, he succumbed to his ailment. The actor is survived by his wife Sutapa Sikdar and two sons Babil and Ayan.

While several film personalities from Bollywood and Hollywood have mourned his sudden death, ‘Bad Man’ of Bollywood, Gulshan Grover, has now opened up about being best friends, colleagues and competitors with late actor. In a chat with a leading portal, Gulshan said, “The news of both – Irrfan Khan and Rishi Kapoor’s demise has been shocking. Both of them were fantastic actors and great human beings. At such a time when people all over the world are so concerned and low, getting the news of first Irrfan and then Rishi’s demise has been very difficult and shocking to cope with. I knew both of them very well. I have been good friends with Irrfan and a younger friend to Rishi ji. It is like a personal loss for me.”

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Further talking about his terms with Irrfan, personally and professionally, Gulshan added, “I have known Irrfan for a long time. We have worked here in India and have been in constant interaction with each others on international front also where we were competing for the same roles. We have been friends, colleagues and competitors. I have always admired his work and it is been very inspirational. It is very unfortunate for the industry to have lost an actor like Irrfan who is very unique. He is somebody who took the level of acting many notches up. He has set a very high benchmark which is really hard to match."

Lastly, he recalled the time Irrfan, along with his wife Sutapa Sikdar, visited him in Lucknow for Holi when he was shooting there for Tigmanshu Dhulia's Bullet Raja.

(Source: ETimes)