Irrfan's son Babil Khan defines the ills of Bollywood, says, 'my father was defeated by hunks with six pack abs'
It's been over two months since Bollywood lost one of its rare gems, Irrfan. The actor, breathed his last in Mumbai on April 29, after battling cancer for the past two years. While the industry is coping with the irreplaceable loss, his family is keeping him alive in memories by sharing unseen pictures on social media. Irrfan's son Babil Khan, on Instagram today, shared a rare picture from his childhood with his late father and penned a hard-hitting note on how Bollywood is defined by hunks performing stunts that defy the laws of physics and reality. Stating that his father 'gave his life trying to elevate the art of acting in the adverse conditions', Babil said he was unfortunately defeated by 'same-old conventional representations of patriarchy'.
"My father gave his life trying to elevate the art of acting in the adverse conditions of noughties Bollywood and alas, for almost all of his journey, was defeated in the box office by hunks with six pack abs delivering theatrical one-liners and defying the laws of physics and reality, photoshopped item songs, just blatant sexism and same-old conventional representations of patriarchy (and you must understand, to be defeated at the box office means that majority of the investment in Bollywood would be going to the winners, engulfing us in a vicious circle). Because we as an audience wanted that, we enjoyed it, all we sought was entertainment and safety of thought, so afraid to have our delicate illusion of reality shattered, so unaccepting of any shift in perception. All effort to explore the potential of cinema and its implications on humanity and existentialism was at best kept by the sidelines," Babil wrote.
Talking about how Bollywood has little respect in world cinema, Babil mentioned, "You know one of the most important things my father taught me as a student of cinema? Before I went to film school, he warned me that I’ll have to prove my self as Bollywood is seldom respected in world cinema and at these moments I must inform about the indian cinema that’s beyond our controlled Bollywood. Unfortunately, it did happen. Bollywood was not respected, no awareness of 60’s - 90’s Indian cinema or credibility of opinion. There was literally one single lecture in the world cinema segment about indian cinema called ‘Bollywood and Beyond’, that too gone through in a class full of chuckles. it was tough to even get a sensible conversation about the real Indian cinema of Satyajit Ray and K.Asif going. You know why that is? Because we, as the Indian audience, refused to evolve."
