Ranvijay Bhaiya, Chalo Chalo Raat Ko Milte Hain, Sangeet Talkies, Nau Se Baarah

When I was in school, we had a black & white television at our home. We used to watch serials like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Chanakya etc. Being a small city which had only one cinema hall in those days, there was no culture of going to cinema halls in our family. So I was not very fond of watching movies. Doordarshan those days used to show Hindi films on Sundays which we used to watch occasionally.

I don’t remember exactly the date or year, but it was somewhere around 96–97 that I watched ‘Anand’ movie on Doordarshan, starring Rajesh Khanna & Amitabh Bachchan. This was the first movie which made me cry, specially the last scene when the character of Kaka dies & Amitabh Bachchan does a monologue. That was the scene which convinced me that there was no greater actor than Big B. Bachchan’s screen presence & dialogue delivery was extra ordinary. No one could match him on that count.

For me Bachchan became ‘Na Bhooto Na Bhavishyati’ of acting.

Later on I got a chance to watch Guide movie of Dev Anand. Half way during the movie, I was just blown away by the movie’s story, music & acting. Then came the climax scene — the dual between mind & soul. Raju guide is in dilemma whether to follow his heart or brain. That scene is one of the most charismatic scenes ever created in Indian cinema. That moment, I realized that Bachchan is not everything and Hindi cinema is beyond Bachchan also.

I got my second screen hero in Dev Anand & till date he remains my favorite on screen actor. Not just for his movies, but for the way he lived his life, worked hard till his very last moments. ‘Har fiqar ko dhuyen me udaata chala gaya’ became kind of philosophy of my life.

In 2001, I came to Delhi for my graduation. I used to stay in North campus with some friends. One of them had a computer & he was very fond of watching movies. He would watch all kind of movies, from Godfather to Dil Chahta Hai. I would occasionally join his movie sessions on his computer.

Sometime in 2004, during one of our movie sessions, we watched a movie named Haasil. The movie was based on the student politics inside Allahabad University. Being a Poorvanchali, I immediately connected with the movie & liked it very much. All actors played their characters superbly. But the one character which stood out among all was Ranvijay Singh- played by Irrfan Khan (those days he used to keep his surname).

For the first time ever, I saw a movie where negative character is so very well played that it overshadows all other characters. And when the movie ends you remember only one character- that of Irrfan. The intensity in his eyes, the complete command over the Hindi dialect of that area & the poetic performance which flows naturally with character, made it an unforgettable cinematic experience. In short, he just owned that character.

That day I found my third favorite actor after Bachchan & Dev Saab- Irrfan Khan.

Our gang of friends liked Haasil so much so that we watched that movie almost 100 times in parts & full, over next 2–3 years. We learnt every single dialogue of the movie, most of which we remember even today. And sometimes it just became a way of talking among our group.

का बे बहुत बरबाद दिख रहे हो?

इंग्लिश किसी के बाप की है का बे?

लड़की जो है आदमी से प्यार करती है और आदमी में अगर वीरता नहीं है तो आदमी आदमी नहीं है, लड़की के सामने उन लौडों ने तुमको मारा और तुमने कुछ नहीं किया तो लड़की समझेगी प्यार तो करता है, सुरक्षा नहीं दे सकता?

और जान से मार देना बेटा, हम रह गये ना, मारने में देर नहीं लगायेंगे, भगवान कसम!

तुम्हारे जितने भी हाय बाए वाले लौंडे है उनको जरा गियर में डालो मोबिलाइज करो (This one was used frequently during student union elections in DU)

Later on I saw some of his other movies- Maqbool, Rog, Life in a Metro & others. I later came to know that before Haasil, he had already done an international project in lead role, The Warrior, which was nominated for Oscars.

Movie after movie, performance after performance, I kept watching his films regularly. Life of Pi, The Namesake, Madari, Sahib Bibi Aur Gangster, The Lunchbox, Piku, Hindi Medium are some which stood out among others.

For me, his best performance came in Paan Singh Tomar. If his acting was excellent in other movies, it was just extra-ordinary in Paan Singh Tomar. It is so natural that you can’t be able to make out whether he is acting or just living his own life in-front of camera. If there is one movie which budding actors should watch as a reference point in acting, it’s this movie.

However I would mention one film here and particularly one scene of that movie- Billu Barber. The movie was an average one but the way he showed how to act to Shahrukh was just phenomenal. It was as if he was teaching acting lessons to one of the biggest (?) stars of current generation. The climax scene of the movie confirmed that superstardom in Bollywood has nothing to do with your acting skills. This is just a marketing gimmick. Irrfan completely overshadowed Shahrukh in the only scene in which both were in same frame.

That movie established that Irfan is the only Khan who could really act- it’s a different matter that by that time he had dropped his surname.

All three of my favorites, Bachchan, Dev Saab & Irfan have one thing in common- the way they lived their lives. They went with the flow yet lived a much disciplined life, welcomed everything which came their way, no grudges in life, always looked at the positive side of the things.

One thing which Irrfan could manage in his life which other two could not, despite a three decade long exposure to cinema world, he had no controversies to his name. This is a rare thing to achieve in a Maya Nagari where you hear a new controversy every passing hour.

Now that he is no more among us, I realize, in today’s polarized world he was a truly liberal, global Indian yet patriotic to the core. Religiously he was a free bird, never to confine to the set rules of his religion. So much so that his father once told — Nawabo ke ghar me Brahman kaha se paida ho gaya?

After him, I don’t know if I will ever like any other actor in future, probably he is the last actor whom I can claim to be my favorite actor.

तुमको याद रखेंगे गुरु हम