Bollywood actor Irrfan passed away on Wednesday and his last film was Angrezi Medium which ran in theatres for just a day before cinema halls across India were shut due to the lockdown. The powerhouse of talent has been a force to reckon with from over three decades, starting from theatre to television films and then Bollywood and Hollywood.
Now as the world mourns his untimely demise at the age of 54, there are some unknown facts about him that his fans might not know. So we bring you some of them:
1. The actor’s real name is Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan. Since he did not like the lenght and heaviness of his name, he dropped parts of it and eventually was called Irfan Khan. Later, he added ‘R’ letter as he liked the sound of it and then went solo with just Irrfan.
2. Before essaying the character of Masrani in 2015’s Jurassic World, he had a connection with the film from way before. In an interview, he had once said that he wanted to watch the first Jurassic Park film in 1993 but did not have the money to do so.
3. In 1984, he earned a scholarship to National School of Drama (NSD) while he was pursuing his MA and that’s when he fed his acting bug and moved out of his home.
4. Irrfan was once offered Christopher Nolan’s space-adventure film Interstellar, which released in 2014. The extended cameo, which eventually went to Matt Damon, was offered to him first but he could not take it up because of Bollywood projects like The Lunchbox and D-Day.
5. Irrfan wanted to be a cricketer but his parents were not as keen as him. So, the idea was dropped.
6. His first job in Mumbai was as an air-conditioner repairman and apparently, the first house he visited for the repairing services was of Rajesh Khanna.
RIP Irrfan!