Having wowed Bollywood audiences in The Lunchbo x, Irrfan Khan returns to play a romantic lead in Piku . The actor, who made waves in Hollywood with films such as The Namesake, Slumdog Millionaire and Life of Pi, recounts his journey in celluloid. archita kashyap listens.
InPiku, your chemistry with Deepika is eye-catching. What made you take on this role?
Juhi Chaturvedi’s writing fascinates me and I have loads of admiration for Shoojit Sircar because of the kind of director and person he is.
As for chemistry, you can never foresee what you will share with an actor. Deepika is on top of her game because of her glamorous films, but what I discovered while working with her was she is eager to explore herself as an actor. She brings seriousness to her performance as Piku.
You play a romantic lead of sorts inPiku. While love stories don’t come your way so often, you do bring in a common man's touch to romance. Is there a classic romantic lead you would like to play from, say, literature?
I chose the Lunchbox script because beneath all its layers, it is a very interesting love story. To me, Maqbool , at the heart of it, is a love story. I don’t view it as Macbeth and didn’t refer to Shakespeare’s play at all. These are subjects I haven’t explored much yet, but in bits and parts. Piku gives me that opportunity.
Previously, I wanted to play Devdas. It has always been played pessimistically. The character is so much more; it’s like you dilute your whole being and identify yourself so much with love that you yourself don’t remain. That idea has fascinated me a lot.
It’s also a part of me. In relationships, I seek that feeling, where you forget yourself and become one with someone. It’s a constant process of seeking and never gets fulfilled. Maybe one day it will. Who knows?
In India, your films tend to focus on humane, everyday life stories. But in Hollywood, you’ve managed to land roles in mainstream, big-ticket films. How do you balance working in both?
I need to be more sensitive and alert when I work in Hollywood because the challenges are different, so is the language. These directors also tell stories in a complicated way. Whether a member of the audience is ordinary or an intellectual, some element or the other should entertain and engage him. For that kind of storytelling, you need tremendous range. My performance therefore needs to be scaled up. While preparing for Life of Pi , I was scared of the enormity of my character. Although he isn’t present onscreen for a lot of time, whatever he is saying, he says with such vast knowledge; and I had to encapsulate his knowledge in just 6-7 months. While preparing, I realised that my voice had changed. It was the influence of that story. A role like that needs that much preparation.
Balancing is not difficult otherwise. You just need to balance dates. But there is more time to prepare for the role. For instance, while I will be shooting for Inferno from June, I have already travelled to Budapest for the costume trials and rehearsals with Tom Hanks and Felicity Jones. Since we have already interacted, I have these references to build up on for a month.
Here you don’t get the time. We tend to shoot immediately. Be it the writing or the director, they don’t demand such preparation from you. Then you also don’t want to impose your vision, interpretation and understanding of a story. As an actor, you have to see what is required. Otherwise, your sensibility will become a burden.
In Bollywood, who do you see as the drivers of change — actors or filmmakers?
There are many actors and directors trying different things. An actor can only do that much. Filmmaking is a director’s medium. I have been working in Hindi films for 15 years, but never got that many chances to play certain roles. There were no directors who would tell a different kind of story.
I think it’s the audiences who are maturing fast and demanding better films. The industry is not being able to cope with their demand for fresh films and content. It’s the new generation of filmmakers who will change the scene. Actors come and go; when there will be better directors, there will be better actors.
