Irrfan Khan Biography

Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan (born 7 January 1967), credited as Irrfan Khan or simply Irrfan, is an Indian film actor, known for his work predominantly in Hindi cinema, as well as his works in British films and Hollywood. Film critics, contemporaries and other experts consider him to be one of the finest actors in Indian cinema for his versatile and natural acting. Marked his screen debut in 1988 with the Academy Award nominated Salaam Bombay!, Khan received the Padma Shri (2011), India's fourth highest civilian honour for his contribution to the field of arts.

Khan has garnered the National Film Award for Best Actor in the 60th National Film Awards 2012 and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for his performance in Paan Singh Tomar. Khan has won the 2014 Asian Film Award for Best Actor, three International Indian Film Academy Awards, three Filmfare Awards, an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and various international honours. He also hosted a television show and commercials. Khan is featured in more than fifty Indian films, and other international works such as The Namesake, The Darjeeling Limited, the Academy Award winner Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi, New York, I Love You, The Amazing Spider-Man, Jurassic World, and Inferno. In September 2015, he was appointed as the brand ambassador for "Resurgent Rajasthan", a campaign by the state government of Rajasthan. In the year 2017, his solo lead film Hindi Medium became a super hit at the box office, garnered significant praise from critics, and earned Khan the 2017 Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the role. In 2018, Khan was diagnosed with Neuroendocrine tumor.

Early life

Khan was born in Jaipur, Rajasthan, to a Muslim Pathan family. Khan's mother, Begum Khan, was from the Tonk Hakim family, and his father, the late Jagirdar Khan, was from the Khajuriya village near the Tonk district, and ran a tire business. Khan was studying for his MA degree when he earned a scholarship to study at National School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi in 1984.

Career

Khan moved to Mumbai, where he acted in numerous television serials, including Chanakya (TV series), Bharat Ek Khoj, Sara Jahan Hamara, Banegi Apni Baat, Chandrakanta, Shrikant (Doordarshan), AnooGoonj on Doordarshan, Star Bestsellers (Star Plus), and Sparsh. Earlier, he had acted in a teleplay on Doordarshan named Laal Ghaas Par Neele Ghode where he played Lenin. It was based on a translation by Uday Prakash of a Russian play by Mikhail Shatrov. He was the main villain in a series called Darr (which aired on Star Plus), where he played the role of a psycho serial killer, opposite Kay Kay Menon. He also played the role of famous revolutionary Urdu poet and Marxist political activist of India Makhdoom Mohiuddin in Kahkashan, produced by Ali Sardar Jafri.

He acted in some of the episodes of Star Bestsellers (aired on Star-Plus). In one of the episodes (Ek Sham Ki Mulakat), his role was of a parchoon shopkeeper who has a misconception that his landlord's wife is trying to seduce him and it turns out that his own wife (Tisca Chopra) is cheating on him. In the other one, he played the role of an office accountant who, after being insulted by his female boss, took revenge. He also appeared in a serial called Bhanvar (aired on SET India) for two episodes. In one episode, he performed the role of a thug who somehow lands in court. Theatre and television kept him afloat until Mira Nair offered him a cameo in Salaam Bombay! (1988) though his role was edited out in the final film.

In the 1990s, he appeared in the critically acclaimed films Ek Doctor Ki Maut and Such a Long Journey (1998) and various other films which went unnoticed. After many unsuccessful films, things changed when London-based director Asif Kapadia gave him the lead in The Warrior, a historical film completed in 11 weeks on location in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. In 2001 The Warrior opened in international film festivals, making Khan a known face.

In 2003-04 he acted in Ashvin Kumar's short film, Road to Ladakh. After the film received rave reviews at international festivals, the film was being made into a full-length feature starring Khan. That same year he played the title role in the critically acclaimed Maqbool, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth.

His first Bollywood lead role came in 2005 with film Rog. His performance was praised by critics; one wrote, "Irfaan's eyes speak louder than his words and every time he is in frame, be it talking to his buddy Manish or arguing with Suhel, he shows his capability as an actor". Thereafter he appeared in several films either playing the leading role or a supporting role as a villain. In 2004 he won the Filmfare Best Villain Award for his role in film Haasil. Critics praised his performance in Haasil, saying that "as the ambitious, brash, fearless goon who is mind-blowing. He is outright scary and makes you sit up, wondering what he'll do next". He also played an antagonist in the Telugu film Sainikudu.

In 2007, he appeared in the box office hits Metro, for which he received a Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award, and The Namesake. His chemistry with Konkana Sen in Metro was one of the highlights of the multi-star movie. They were closely followed by his appearance in the international films A Mighty Heart and The Darjeeling Limited.

Even after his success in Bollywood, he has continued his television career. He anchored a show Mano Ya Na Mano (airing on Star One). He hosted another programme named Kyaa Kahein which was similar to Mano Ya Na Mano.

In 2008, he was featured as a narrator in an Arts Alliance production, id - Identity of the Soul. The performance toured worldwide, with tens of thousands turning out to see the event as it toured the West Bank. He also plays the police inspector in the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, for which he and the cast of the movie won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. About him, Danny Boyle said, "he has an instinctive way of finding the "moral center" of any character, so that in Slumdog, we believe the policeman might actually conclude that Jamal is innocent. Boyle compares him to an athlete who can execute the same move perfectly over and over. "It's beautiful to watch."

In 2009, he featured in the film Acid Factory. Khan has stated that he wants to do more action films in the future. He also appeared as an FBI agent in New York and as a Gujarati diamond merchant in New York, I Love You. His film, Paan Singh Tomar, about real-life athlete turned dacoit. Paan Singh Tomar received extremely favourable reviews by critics.

In 2010, he worked on the third season of the HBO series In Treatment, enacting the part of Sunil, who is finding it difficult to come to terms with his wife's death and loneliness after moving to New York.

Khan played Dr. Rajit Ratha in The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012. Khan played the adult version of Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel in the film adaptation of Life of Pi.

In 2014, Khan appeared in Gunday, which was a moderate box office success. He also made guest appearances in the films The Xpose and Haider, playing an important role in the latter. In 2015, he played the lead role in the film Piku alongside Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan. Khan co-starred in the 2015 film Jurassic World. In the same year, he also appeared in the acclaimed thriller Talvar (film) in which his performance was praised. He appeared in Jazbaa in October 2015 alongside Aishwarya Rai which was very well received by critics. He was next seen alongside Tom Hanks in the 2016 adaptation of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon thriller Inferno.

In the year 2017, Khan appeared in two films Hindi Medium and Qarib Qarib Singlle, out of which former was commercially and critically successful while the latter was average grosser. Khan's portrayal as Raj Batra in Hindi Medium earned him several accolades one of which was the Filmfare Award for Best Actor of that year.

In 2018, Khan will appear in Karwan, with Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar and Kriti Kharbanda. And the film is scheduled to be released on 1 June 2018. He will also appear in Blackmail opposite Kirti Kulhari in the same year. He also committed to work in Hindi Medium Sequel which will go on floors in late 2018. It will be directed by Homi Adjania who before directed Cocktail & Finding Fanny

Other milestones

In September 2015, he was appointed as the brand ambassador for "Resurgent Rajasthan", a campaign by the state government of Rajasthan. He lent his voice to the light and sound show at the war memorial for the Indian army at Vidhan Sabha Road, Jaipur. This show portrays the valour and courage of the Rajasthani soldiers and their triumphs in battle from olden days till today.

Personal life

On 23 February 1995, Khan married writer and fellow NSD graduate Sutapa Sikdar. They have two sons, Babil and Ayan.

Sikdar said about him, "He was always focused. I remember when he would come home, he would head straight for the bedroom, sit on the floor, and read books. The rest of us would be hanging around gossiping." Even now, as he reads through at least one new Hollywood script a week, he believes in doing his homework, staying up till 3 in the morning, taking notes, trying to understand ways to play his character. Sikdar recalls how he would demand as many as 11 rewrites from her when he directed episodes of Banegi Apni Baat. "Once he dragged me to a police station in Mumbai to understand procedure," she recalls. In 2012, he changed the spelling of his name from "Irfan" to "Irrfan" and has said he likes the sound of the extra "r" in his name.

In February 2018, Khan was diagnosed with "undisclosed disease", and it was speculated by many media outlets that he has "brain cancer". After much speculation, the actor took to his Twitter account and announced that he will "share his story" in "a week - ten days" and has asked the media and fans not to "speculate" anything. After his response, many actors have asked the public to respect Khan's wish, including Sonam Kapoor, Nimrat Kaur and Manoj Bajpai. On March 16, 2018, Khan announced through a Twitter post that he is suffering from Neuroendocrine tumor.. He also said that he will be travelling abroad for his treatment.

Awards and honours

Year	Film	Award	Category	Result	Ref.
2004	Haasil	Filmfare Awards	Best Actor in a Negative Role
		Zee Cine Awards	Best Performance in a Villainous Role
		Screen Awards	Best Performance in a Negative Role
	Maqbool		Best Performance in a Negative Role
		Zee Cine Awards	Best Performance in a Villainous Role
2006	The Namesake	Alliance of Women Film Journalists	Best Seduction
2007		Independent Spirit Award	Best Supporting Male
		Stardust Awards	Best Supporting Actor
	Life in a... Metro	Producers Guild Film Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role
2008		Filmfare Awards	Best Supporting Actor
		International Indian Film Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actor
			Best Performance in a Comic Role
		Screen Awards	Best Comedian
		Zee Cine Awards	Best Supporting Actor
	Slumdog Millionaire	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2009		Central Ohio Film Critics Association	Best Ensemble
	Mumbai Meri Jaan	International Indian Film Academy Awards	Best Actor In A Supporting Role
		GQ (Indian edition)	Man of the Year
2010	New York	Producers Guild Film Awards	Best Actor In A Supporting Role
		International Indian Film Academy Awards	Best Actor In A Supporting Role
2011		Padma Shri	Arts
		International Indian Film Academy Awards	Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema
2012		CNN-IBN Indian of the Year	Entertainment
	7 Khoon Maaf	International Indian Film Academy Awards	Best Performance in a Negative Role
2013	Paan Singh Tomar	National Film Awards	Best Actor
		Filmfare Awards	Best Actor
			Best Actor (Critics)
		Producers Guild Film Awards	Best Actor
		Zee Cine Awards	Best Actor
		Times of India Film Awards	Best Actor
		Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences	Best Male Character
		Screen Awards	Best Actor
	The Lunchbox		Best Actor
		Asian Film Awards	Best Actor
		Asia-Pacific Film Festival	Outstanding Achievement Award
			Best Actor
		Dubai International Film Festival	Best Actor
2014		Producers Guild Film Awards	Best Actor
			Star Verdict Performer of the Year
			Entertainer of the Year
	Qissa	Indian International Film Festival of Queensland	Best Actor
	D-Day	Zee Cine Awards	Best Actor
2015	Haider	Bollywood Hungama Surfers' Choice Movie Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role
		Producers Guild Film Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role
	Gunday		Best Actor in a Supporting Role
2016	Talvar	BIG Star Entertainment Awards	Most Entertaining Actor in a Thriller Role - Male
		Star Screen Awards	Best Actor (Jury's Choice) - Male
		Films of India Online Awards	Best Actor in a Leading Role
		Stardust Awards	Performer Of The Year (Male) - Editor's Choice
	Piku		Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Male
		Producers Guild Film Awards	Best Actor in a Leading Role
		Indian Film Festival of Melbourne	Best Actor
		BIG Star Entertainment Awards	Most Entertaining Actor in a Drama Role - Male
		International Indian Film Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actor
		Times of India Film Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Male
		Zee Cine Awards	Critics Award for Best Actor - Male
		Films of India Online Awards	Best Actor in a Supporting Role
2017		Dubai International Film Festival	Honorary Award
2018	Hindi Medium	Zee Cine Awards	Best Actor - Male (Jury's Choice)
		Screen Awards	Best Actor
		Filmfare Awards	Best Actor
			Best Actor (Critics)
		News18 Reel Movie Awards	Best Actor
	Qarib Qarib Singlle	Screen Awards	Best Actor

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1988	Salaam Bombay!	Letter writer
1989	Kamla Ki Maut	Ajit
	Jazeere	Alfred
1990	Drishti	Rahul
1990	Ek Doctor Ki Maut	Amulya
1991	Pita (The Father)	Dr.Sen
1993	Karamati Coat	Jaggu
1994	The Cloud Door	Irfan
1994	Purush	unknown
1998	Bada Din	Police Inspector
2000	The Goal (Hindi)	The Coach
2000	Ghaath	Mamu / Romesh Bhagwat Dogra
2001	The Warrior	Lafcadia - Warrior	British-Indian film
	Kasoor	Public Prosecutor
2002	Bokshu, the Myth	High priest (Tantric yogi)	Indian English film
	Pratha	Priest Ninni Pandey
	Kali Salwaar	Shankar
	Gunaah	Police Inspector Digvijay Pandey
	Haathi ka Anda
2003	Haasil	Ranvijay Singh	Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role
	Dhund: The fog	Ajit Khurana
	Footpath	Sheik
	Maqbool	Maqbool
	The Bypass	Cop
2004	Shadows of Time	Yani Mishra	German film in Bengali language
	Aan: Men at Work	Yusuf Pathan
	Road to Ladakh	Terrorist	Short film
	Charas: A Joint Operation	Ranbhir Singh Rathore
2005	Chocolate: Deep Dark Secrets	Pipi
	Rog	Inspector Uday Rathore
	Chehraa	Chandranath Diwan
	7 Phere	Manoj
2006	Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota	Salim Rajabali
	The Film	Shamim Bhai (voice over)
	The Killer	Vikram/Roopchand Swaroopchand Solanki
	Deadline: Sirf 24 Ghante	Krish Vaidya
	Sainikudu	Pappu Yadav	Telugu film
2007	A Mighty Heart	Zeeshan Kazmi, Karachi Police Chief	American film
	Life in a... Metro	Monty	Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor
	The Namesake	Ashoke Ganguli	International co-production Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male
	The Darjeeling Limited	The Father	American film
	Apna Asmaan	Ravi Kumar
	Partition	Avtar	Canadian film
2008	Tulsi	Suraj
	Sunday	Kumar
	Krazzy 4	Dr. Mukherjee
	Mumbai Meri Jaan	Thomas
	Slumdog Millionaire	Police Inspector	British film
	Chamku	Vishal Kapoor
	Dil Kabaddi	Samit
2009	Acid Factory	Kaizar
	Billu	Billu/Vilas Pardesi
	New York	Roshan (FBI Official)
	New York, I Love You	Mansuhkhbai	American film
2010	Right Yaaa Wrong	Vinay Patnaik
	Knock Out	Bacchoo/ Tony Khosla
	Hisss	Inspector Vinkram Gupta	Indian-American film
2011	Yeh Saali Zindagi	Arun
	7 Khoon Maaf	Wasiullah Khan a.k.a. Musafir
	Thank You	Vikram
2012	Paan Singh Tomar	Paan Singh Tomar	National Film Award for Best Actor Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor
	The Amazing Spider-Man	Dr. Rajit Ratha	American film
	Life of Pi	Adult Piscine Molitor Patel ("Pi")	American film
2013	Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns	Indrajeet Singh a.k.a. Raja Bhaiyya
	D-Day	Wali Khan
	The Lunchbox	Saajan Fernandez	International co-production
2014	Gunday	A.C.P. Satyajeet Sarkar
	Haider	Roohdaar
2015	Qissa	Umber Singh	Indian-German Punjabi film
	Piku	Rana Chaudhary
	Jurassic World	Simon Masrani	American film
	Talvar	Ashwin Kumar, Central Department of Investigation (CDI) officer
	Jazbaa	Youhan, Suspended Cop
2016	The Jungle Book	Baloo (voice) (Hindi)	American film; voice in the Hindi dubbed version
	Inferno	Harry "The Provost" Sims	American film
	Madaari	Nirmal
2017	Hindi Medium	Raj Batra	Filmfare Award for Best Actor
	Doob: No Bed of Roses	Javed Hasan	Bangladesh-India joint venture film
	The Song of Scorpions	Aadam
	Qarib Qarib Singlle	Yogi
2018	Blackmail
	Kabir	Saroj ; RAW Chief	Bengali Film
	Puzzle
	Karwan
	Raita

Television credits

Year	Show	Role	Notes
1985-1986	Shrikant
1988	Bharat Ek Khoj	`Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni	He plays the role of a historian and translator living in the Mughal Empire during the reign of Akbar in episode 32 and 33.
1992	Chanakya	"Senapati" Bhadrashal
1993	Shesh Prashn	Shivnaath, central character Komal's husband
1994	Chandrakanta	"Badrinath/Somnath"
	The Great Maratha	Najib-ud-daula and Gulam Kadir Khan
1995	Banegi Apni Baat
1995- 1996	Darr	Serial Killer
1997	Just Mohabbat	"Mr. Singh" a.k.a. "Psycho Singh" a.k.a. "Psycho Uncle"	He plays a teacher.
	Jai Hanuman	Maharishi Valmiki
	Bombay Blue	Rameez
1999	Star Bestsellers	Ek Shaam Ke Mulaqaat
2004	Kyaa Kahein	Host
2006	Mano Ya Na Mano	Host
2009	Mtv Hero Honda Roadies 7	Himself
2010	In Treatment	Sunil	Raja Hindustani
2016	Tokyo Trial	Radhabinod Pal

Video game credits

Year	Show	Role	Notes
2015	Lego Jurassic World	Simon Masrani
2015	Lego Dimensions	Simon Masrani

See also

• List of Bollywood villains