Sutapa Sikdar intends to pen a book on Irrfan Khan: ‘I want it to be a funny journey’

Irrfan Khan’s wife, writer-actress Sutapa Sikdar has said that she intends to pen a book in memory of the late actor, in which she wants to “explore the funny side of his personality”.

One of India’s greatest actors, Irrfan died in April 2020 after a long battle with cancer. A new book titled, Irrfan Khan: A Life in Movies, written by film critic Subhra Gupta was launched on June 7. Speaking at the event, Sutapa expressed her desire to bring the humorous aspect of the actor’s personality to the fore.

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“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,” she told PTI. 

Irrfan: A Life in Movies focuses on Irrfan’s early days at the National School of Drama days, followed by his emergence as an actor in the Hindi film industry. Commenting on the factors that he particularly considered while deciding on a script, Sutapa said, “He was not a practising Muslim, but the one word he strongly caught on 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.”

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Meanwhile, following the footsteps of his father, Irrfan and Sutapa’s elder son Babil Khan has also forayed into the field of cinema. He made his acting debut last year with Netflix’s psychological drama film Qala - starring alongside Tripti Dimri and Swastika Mukherjee. The movie is written and directed by Anvita Dutt. Babil is also likely to appear in new projects soon.