Irrfan Khan, who starred in films like Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire, has died at age 53 after suffering a colon infection post-cancer treatment.
- Actor Irrfan Khan has died at age 53. Born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India on January 7, 1967, Khan joined New Delhi's National School of Drama in 1984 to study theater and pursue a career in acting. He would later move to Mumbai in 1990, but struggled to land lead film roles and spent much of the following decade appearing in Indian TV serials likeAnooGoonj, Banegi Apni Baat, and Chanakya. Finally, in 2001, British-Indian filmmaker Asif Kapadia cast him in The Warrior, a historical drama about a soldier (Khan) employed by a corrupt political leader in feudal-era Rajasthan who tries to leave his life of violence behind him.
In addition to being a critical success, The Warrior won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the 2003 BAFTAs and screened at several major international film festivals, making a name for Khan along the way. He would go on to become a big star in Indian cinema thanks to his turn as Macbeth in Vishal Bhardwaj's Shakespearean re-imagining Maqbool in 2003, prior to securing his first Bollywood lead role in Himanshu Brahmbhatt's 2005 thrillerRog (itself, based on the 1944 U.S. thriller Laura). Khan continued to work in the Indian film industry in the years that followed, even as he started finding his way into major U.S. movies and television shows.
Back in March 2018, Khan announced he'd been diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor, yet was still able to play a role in Homi Adajania's comedy-drama Angrezi Medium (which saw its release cut short by the coronavirus pandemic) while he was undergoing treatment in London. Sadly, however, he was admitted to Mumbai's Kokilaben hospital with a colon infection on Tuesday, April 28, and died shortly after. His spokesman confirmed his death in a statement, saying "He fought the many battles that came with [his cancer]" and was surrounded by his family when he passed.
Among Khan's most internationally renowned performances is his turn in Mira Nair's 2006 film adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's novel The Namesake, in which he plays a first-generation immigrant from West Bengal who struggles to adjust to his new life in the U.S. and, when he's older, connect with his American-born son (Kal Penn). He's also known for his smaller roles in films like Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited and, most notably, the 2008 Best Picture Oscar-winner Slumdog Millionaire, where he plays a police inspector who interrogates Jamal Malik (Dev Patel) about his life's story. Since then, Khan has appeared in everything from the HBO TV series In Treatment to big-budget blockbusters like The Amazing Spider-Man andJurassic World (where he portrayed the titular theme park's eccentric owner, Simon Masrani) and the 2016 Dan Brown adaptation Inferno.
As for the last ten years, Khan's better-known (and well-received) roles include his turn as the grown-up Pi Patel in Ang Lee's Oscar-winning Life of Pi adaptation and his work in Ritesh Batra's feature directorial debut The Lunchbox, a critical and commercial hit in India in which Khan plays a curmudgeonly man who begins an unexpected - and unusual - relationship with a woman after she unintentionally sends him her husband's lunch box one day. An expressive and soulful actor whose understated approach allowed him to say as much with his eyes as he could with any amount of dialogue, Khan was excellent in any role he tackled, however major or minor it might be. He will undoubtedly be missed by his loved ones, as well as film buffs the whole world over.
R.I.P. Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan: January 7, 1967 - April 29, 2020
