Popular Hindi actor
Irrfan Khan breathed his last on Wednesday. The 53-year-old thespian was rushed to Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on Tuesday, where he was taking treatment for colon infection. He is survived by his wife Sutapa and sons – Babil and Ayan. Filmmaker
Shoojit Sircar was the first to confirm the death of Irrfan and mourn his demise on social media. Tributes have started to pour in from all quarters of the country and several superstars from both Bollywood and regional cinema have offered their condolences.
In his illustrious career spanning for over two decades, Irrfan Khan portrayed a wide range of leading and supporting roles in films of all genres. However, not many know that the versatile actor has made his presence in only one
South film
. Irrfan played the prime antagonist opposite
Mahesh Babu in Gunasekhar’s 2006
Telugu film ‘
Sainikudu
’ and delivered an impeccable act as Pappu Yadav. This is his only South appearance till date.
Mahesh Babu paid a tribute to Irrfan Khan on social media by hailing him as a brilliant actor. He wrote on his Twitter handle “Deeply saddened by the news of #IrrfanKhan's untimely demise. A brilliant actor gone too soon. He will be truly missed... My heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones. RIP”
Terming his sudden death as extremely painful, Irrfan's co-actor from ‘Sainikudu’, Prakash Raj took to his Twitter handle and wrote “Extremely painful.. Ahh ..too early Irfan.. thank you for your contribution to the collective global art .. we will miss you . RIP”
Irrfan was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour in 2018 and received treatment in the UK for a year. He returned to India in February 2019 and shortly resumed shooting for his film, Angrezi Medium. Due to coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown, the film’s business affected at the box-office.
Best known for his performance in films like ‘Maqbool’ and ‘Piku’, Irrfan Khan won the National Award for his terrific portrayal as Paan Singh Tomar in the latter’s biopic of the same name. He was also globally recognised for his performance in films like 'Slumdog Millionaire', 'Inferno' and 'Life of Pi'.