Shoojit Sircar talks about he grew close to late Irrfan Khan during treatment journey

Mumbai, Nov 7 (IANS) Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar has reminisced about his friendship with late star Irrfan Khan and said that he misses the actor in every film that he does.

Shoojit was speaking on the podcast Unfiltered By Samdish, where he spoke about his friendship with Irrfan Khan.

“When Irrfan had it, because I had seen my father… Irrfan and I became much closer, when we got to know about his condition because during the treatment, we started speaking quite often. He would just call me for hours,” he recalled.

“Sometimes I don’t know what to talk to him, because you know, he’ll talk about spiritual world, magic world, all kinds, cinema, zindagi ko leke. I think he was also trying to understand ki mujhe chemo karna hai, ya should I go for an alternate therapy. You know, all he was thinking.”

The filmmaker said that if Irrfan Khan, who passed away in 2020 due to complications arising from a neuroendocrine tumour, had gone for the alternate therapy, he would have probably been alive a “little more.”

“And sometime I now realize, shayad Irrfan ko main agar bolta ki go for alternate therapy, not that I have nothing to do with that, that he did chemo and you know, normal, medical, maybe he would have been alive little more, because chala toh gaya wo do saal mein, jitna time diya tha doctor ne.”

“You know, because it was last stage almost that he was, so he tried really hard, but usko alternate bhi karna tha, because kabhi kabhi wo khud trance pe challe jaata tha,” Shoojit said.

He recalled the time he did meditation with Irrfan.

“Then some days I would go home and sit with him, do some breathing exercise. Irrfan, aaj main aapke saath baith ke thoda meditation karo? Bolte hain, haan karo. So, itna, as a genuine aadmi na, doodh parna bahut mushkil, aesa aadmi milna, it’s very difficult in the industry, the way Irrfan was.”

“Uske andar ek alag hi ek, adhar hi ek humanism tha, which, that’s why he was Irrfan, uske aankhon mein abhi bhi wo chamak, wo smile, wo mujhe phone karta tha. Jab chaar baje kabhi phone aayega na uska, toh mujhe lagta tha ki, pak gaye wo, aayega abhi, chai piyega, jhal muri khaayega wo, aur bolega, dada baat karo, chalo, let’s talk.”

Shoojit wants his friend to come back.

“Main toh bol raha hoon usko laa de wapas, usko leke aao, leke aao yaar, Irrfan should come back. Uske bina mushkil hai, survive karna. I mean this, very very difficult. What you want to do, what you want to converse, kisi ko samjhana, I think Irrfan was, I miss him in every film now, every film that I do,” he said.

–IANS

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