Sutapa Sikdar plans to pen a book on Irrfan Khan, wants it to be a funny journey

PTI, Jun 11, 2023, 11:33 AM IST

credit: Facebook / Sutapa Sikdar

Mumbai: Irrfan Khan’s wife, writer Sutapa Sikdar, says she wishes to pen a book exploring the funny side of the late actor’s personality.

With a career spanning over three decades, Irrfan was known for his performances in ”Maqbool”, ”The Namesake”, ”Paan Singh Tomar”, ”Haider”, ”Piku” and ”The Lunchbox”. He died from a rare form of cancer at the age of 54 in April 2020.

Sutapa said whenever she will write the book, she wouldn’t ”want it to be a sentimental journey”.

”I want it to be a funny journey, which I shared with him. People take him as a very intimidating and very serious kind of a person but he was not in real life. The book is not ready at all (but it will be ready) sometime,” Sutapa told PTI on the sidelines of the launch of a new book on Irrfan by film critic Shubhra Gupta on Saturday night.

Titled ”Irrfan Khan: A Life in Movies”, the book offers a compelling account of his life and achievements — starting from his days at the National School of Drama to his nearly a decade-long stint in television and his gradual ascent in the film industry.

The book, published by Pan Macmillan India, engages key people, including Sutapa, directors Mira Nair, Vishal Bhardwaj and Anurag Basu in conversation on the iconic actor’s art, craft and legacy.

For Irrfan, regarded as one of the finest actors of contemporary Indian cinema, the intention behind telling a story mattered the most, Sutapa said.

”He was not a practising Muslim but one word he strongly caught in Islam was ‘niyat’ (intent). So, ‘niyat’ was so strong in his personality and in life. Like, what is our intent about telling the story? It has to be transparent and honest, and that was foremost for him.

”In a film script, (the story) can’t be preachy. It has to be entertaining, people must get entertained but at the same time, the intention should be there,” she added.