Malayalam actor Fahadh Faasil penned a heartfelt note late Wednesday night on Irrfan Khan’s death and the influence the actor had on in his career.
The Indian film industry is mourning the death of Khan, who passed away in Mumbai on Wednesday. He was 53.
Fahadh wrote about how he came across Khan’s work during his university days in the United States, when his friend picked a DVD to watch over the weekend.
On how he chose acting as a career because of Khan, Fahadh wrote: “Irrfan Khan’s growth was like a popular song. Everyone was singing it and feeling it. I kept watching his films. I used to get carried away so much that most of the time I lost narratives of the films. Or it was more like I didn’t care about the narrative as long as he was performing. He made acting look so easy and I was fooled. Amidst discovering Irrfan Khan, I decided to drop out of engineering school and return to India. TO ACT IN FILMS.”
Fahadh also expressed regret that had never been able to meet Khan.
“Even when my dear friend Dulquer was shooting with Irrfan in our hometown, I couldn’t meet him as I was going through a hectic schedule myself, I had no reason to believe why I had to rush...I should have just gone to Bombay and met him,” he wrote.
“I feel sorry for the writers and filmmakers who will experience a vacuum with this loss. We just didn’t have enough of him. The entire day went by today and I could not stop thinking about him. I feel obliged to him. I feel like I owe my career to him. I don’t think I would have ever come this far if I had not picked up that DVD and watched an actor who changed my life,” he added.
Read his full note below:
On Wednesday, Malayalam actors Parvathy Thiruvothu and Dulquer Salmaan had also paid tribute to Irrfan Khan, with whom they had made their debut in Hindi films.