Sahabzade Irrfan Ali Khan, credited as Irrfan Khan or simply Irrfan, is an Indian film actor
known for his works predominantly in Bollywood.
He is also known for his works in British Indian films, Hollywood ventures, and a Telugu
film.
He was credited as Irrfan Khan in the 2012 U.S. film The Amazing Spider-Man.
In India, Khan gained the reputation of a skilled actor from his roles in Bollywood
movies such as The Warrior, Maqbool, Haasil, Paan Singh Tomar, Gunday, The Lunchbox, and
Rog.
He also hosted the TV show Mano Ya Na Mano and appeared in popular Vodafone commercials.
In 2012 he appeared in the title role in Paan Singh Tomar, a biopic about an athlete.
Both the movie and Khan's performance received critical acclaim.
As of 2013, he had appeared in more than 30 films in Bollywood.
Khan's English-language mainstream work includes character roles in movies like The Namesake,
New York, I Love You, A Mighty Heart, Slumdog Millionaire, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Life
of Pi, as well as in the HBO series In Treatment.
Khan has won three Filmfare Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Independent Spirit
Award nomination.
He is also the recipient of 2011 Padma Shri award, the fourth highest civilian award in
India.
He has garnered the National Film Award for Best Actor in the 60th National Film Awards
2012, for his performance in Paan Singh Tomar.
Early life and background 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.
Khan was studying for his MA degree when he earned a scholarship to study at National
School of Drama in New Delhi in 1984.
Career Khan moved to Mumbai, where he acted in numerous
television serials, including Chanakya, Bharat Ek Khoj, Sara Jahan Hamara, Banegi Apni Baat,
Chandrakanta, "AnooGoonj" on "Doordarshan" Star Bestsellers, and Sparsh.
Earlier, he had acted in a teleplay on Doordarshan named Laal Ghaas Par Neele Ghode where he
played Lenin.
It was based on a translation by Uday Prakash of a Russian play by Mikhail Shatrov.
He was the main villain in a series called Darr, where he played the role of a psycho
serial killer, opposite Kay Kay Menon.
He also played the role of famous revolutionary Urdu poet and Marxist political activist of
India Makhdoom Mohiuddin in Kahkashan, produced by Ali Sardar Jafri.
He acted in some of the episodes of Star Bestsellers.
In one of the episodes, his role was of a parchoon shopkeeper who has a misconception
that his landlord's wife is trying to seduce him and it turns out that his own wife is
cheating on him.
In the other one, he played the role of an office accountant who, after being insulted
by his female boss, took revenge.
He also appeared in a serial called Bhanvar for two episodes.
In one episode, he performed the role of a thug who somehow lands in court.
Theatre and television kept him afloat until Mira Nair offered him a cameo in Salaam Bombay!
though his role was edited out in the final film.
In the 1990s he appeared in the critically acclaimed films Ek Doctor Ki Maut and Such
a Long Journey and various other films which went unnoticed.
After many unsuccessful films, things changed when London-based director Asif Kapadia gave
him the lead in The Warrior, a historical film completed in 11 weeks on location in
Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
In 2001 The Warrior opened in international film festivals, making Khan a known face.
In 2003–04 he acted in Ashvin Kumar's short film, "Road to Ladakh".
After the film received rave reviews at international festivals, the film is now being made into
a full-length feature starring Khan.
That same year he played the title role in the critically acclaimed Maqbool, an adaptation
of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
His first Bollywood lead role came in 2005 with film Rog.
His performance was praised by critics; one wrote, "Irfaan's eyes speak louder than his
words and every time he is in frame, be it talking to his buddy Munish or arguing with
Suhel, he shows his capability as an actor".
Thereafter he appeared in several films either playing the leading role or a supporting role
as a villain.
In 2004 he won the Filmfare Best Villain Award for his role in film Haasil.
Critics praised his performance in Haasil, saying that "as the ambitious, brash, fearless
goon who is mind-blowing.
He is outright scary and makes you sit up, wondering what he'll do next".
In 2007, he appeared in the box office hits Metro, for which he received a Filmfare Best
Supporting Actor Award, and The Namesake.
His chemistry with Konkana Sen in Metro was one of the highlights of the Multi-star movie.
They were closely followed by his appearance in the international films A Mighty Heart
and The Darjeeling Limited.
Even after becoming a successful actor in Bollywood, he has not severed his ties with
television.
He anchored a show Mano Ya Na Mano.
He hosted another programme named Kyaa Kahein which was similar to Mano Ya Na Mano.
In 2008, he was featured as a narrator in an Arts Alliance production, id – Identity
of the Soul.
The performance toured worldwide, with tens of thousands turning out to see the event
as it toured the West Bank.
He also plays the police inspector in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, for which he
and the cast of the movie won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by
a Cast in a Motion Picture.
About him, Danny Boyle said, "he has an instinctive way of finding the "moral center" of any character,
so that in Slumdog, we believe the policeman might actually conclude that Jamal is innocent.
Boyle compares him to an athlete who can execute the same move perfectly over and over.
"It's beautiful to watch."
In 2009, he featured in the film Acid Factory.
Khan has stated that he wants to do more action films in the future.
He also appeared as an FBI agent in New York and as a Gujarati diamond merchant in New
York, I Love You.
His latest film, Paan Singh Tomar, about real-life Rajput runner Paan Singh Tomar, has received
extremely favourable reviews by critics.
Irrfan has been highly praised.
He recently worked on the third season of the HBO series In Treatment, enacting the
part of Sunil, who is finding it difficult to come to terms with his wife's death and
loneliness after moving to New York.
Khan played Dr. Rajit Ratha in The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012.
Khan played the adult version of Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel in the film adaptation of Life
of Pi.
In both Spider-Man and Life of Pi, Khan's characters refer to a Richard Parker, Peter
Parker's father and a Bengal Tiger respectively.
On 28 February 2014, Khan was cast as an antagonist in the upcoming 2015 film Jurassic World.
Personal life On 23 February 1995, Khan married writer Sutapa
Sikdar, who is also an NSD graduate.
They have two children named Babil and Aryan.
He has two brothers, Imran Khan and Salman Khan and one sister Rukhsana Begum.
Sutapa said about him, "He was always focused.
I remember when he would come home, he would head straight for the bedroom, sit on the
floor, and read books.
The rest of us would be hanging around gossiping."
Even now, as reads through at least one new Hollywood script a week, he believes in doing
his homework, staying up till 3 in the morning, taking notes, trying to understand ways to
play his character.
Sikdar recalls how he would demand as many as 11 rewrites from her when he directed episodes
of Banegi Apni Baat.
"Once he dragged me to a police station in Mumbai to understand procedure," she recalls.
Recently, he has changed his name to Irrfan.
He also said he likes the sound of the extra "r" in his name.
Awards Wins
Civilian honors 2011: Padma Shri
National Film Awards 2012: National Film Award for Best Actor –
Paan Singh Tomar Filmfare Awards
2012: Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor – Paan Singh Tomar
2007: Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award – Life in a...
Metro 2003: Filmfare Best Villain Award – Haasil
Other awards 2014: Indian International Film Festival of
Queensland - Best Actor - Qissa 2013: Asian Film Award for Best Actor - The
Lunchbox 2013: Asia-Pacific Film Festival - Outstanding
Achievement Award - The Lunchbox 2013: Dubai International Film Festival - Best
Actor - The Lunchbox 2013: Times of India Film Awards - Best Actor
- Paan Singh Tomar 2013: Star Guild Awards - Star Verdict of
the Year - The Lunchbox 2013: Screen Award for Best Actor - Paan Singh
Tomar 2012: IRDS Film Award for social concern –
Best male character – Paan Singh Tomar 2012: CNN-IBN Indian of the Year
2011: International Indian Film Academy Awards - Outstanding Achievement in Indian Cinema
2009: Central Ohio Film Critics Association - Best Ensemble - Slumdog Millionaire
2009: GQ - Man of the Year 2008: International Indian Film Academy Awards
- Best Actor In A Supporting Role - Life in a...
Metro 2008: IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actor
- Life in a...
Metro 2008: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding
Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture – Slumdog Millionaire
2007: Star Guild Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Life in a...
Metro 2006: Alliance of Women Film Journalists -
Best Seduction - The Namesake 2004: Screen Weekly Awards - Best Performance
in a Negative Role - Haasil Nominations
2013: Asia Pacific Film Festival - Best Actor - The Lunchbox
2008: Stardust Best Supporting Actor Award – The Namesake
2008: IIFA Award: IIFA Best Supporting Actor – Life in a...
Metro 2007: Independent Spirit Award: Best Supporting
Male – The Namesake Filmography
Television References
External links Irrfan Khan at the Internet Movie Database
Irrfan Khan Official Website TIME Magazine coverage of Irrfan Khan
TIME Magazine photo feature Irrfan Khan takes the comic turn