Irrfan Khan loved acting till his very last breath. Even when his body was failing him, he showed up for the camera, quietly pushing through pain that few around him fully understood. New details from
the set of Angrezi Medium now reveal just how difficult those final days were for the actor, who continued working despite severe physical suffering.
Costume designer Smriti Chauhan recently spoke about her experience working with Irrfan on the film during an episode of Unfolding Talents (UT) on the Digital Commentary YouTube channel. She said his health steadily worsened during the shoot, and his struggle was visible to those close to him on set.
“He was in a lot of pain when we were shooting Angrezi Medium. He only told me one thing, ‘Smriti, I get very cold’, so he told me about this one brand in London, and he said that please get me warmers from there and I said sure. During the shoot of the film also he kept shrinking. We had to add a lot of padding to his clothes in that phase. Even though we gave him a lot of layers, we still had to add a lot of padding.”
She explained that his weight loss and weakness became more pronounced as filming continued. The team had to adjust his costumes to make him comfortable, even during scenes set in summer.
Smriti also revealed that there were days when shooting had to be cancelled because Irrfan could not make it to the set. His pain often became unmanageable, despite his willingness to work.
“In the film, we gave him a vest to wear for all the summer sequences, and even that had padding. He was ailing. His family was around him most of the time and sometimes, during the shoot, he would take a break because he was not able to cope with it… There have been days on Angrezi Medium when we couldn’t shoot because he couldn’t reach the set despite trying. He was in that much pain and I think he believed that this is what I live for and I, probably, want to just die doing this and I think he did that.”
Directed by Homi Adajania, Angrezi Medium featured Radhika Madan, Kareena Kapoor, Deepak Dobriyal and Ranvir Shorey. The film is a sequel to the 2017 hit Hindi Medium and released shortly before Irrfan’s death in 2020.
Irrfan began his career in television and made his film debut with Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! in 1988. He rose to prominence with Asif Kapadia’s The Warrior and went on to deliver memorable performances in films such as Maqbool, Haider, Piku and The Lunchbox. He also earned global recognition with international projects including Life of Pi, The Amazing Spider-Man and Inferno.
In 2018, Irrfan revealed that he had been diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumour. “I hope to be back with more stories to tell,” he wrote at the time. He passed away in 2020 after battling the illness. He is survived by his wife Sutapa Sikdar and their sons, Babil and Ayan.
