Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan, known professionally as Irrfan Khan or simply Irrfan, was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi cinema as well as British and American films.

 

Bio/Wiki
Full Name	Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan [1]
Profession(s)	Actor, Producer
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 183 cm in meters- 1.83 m in feet inches- 6’
Eye Colour	Dark Brown
Hair Colour	Black
Career
Debut	Film (Hindi): Salaam Bombay (1988) Film (British): The Warrior (2001) Film (Hollywood): A Mighty Heart (2007) TV (Actor): Shrikant (1985)
Last Film	Angrezi Medium (2020) as "Champak Bansal"
Awards, Honours	National Film Award 2013: Best Actor for Paan Singh Tomar Filmfare Awards 2004: Best Actor in a Negative Role for Haasil 2008: Best Supporting Actor for Life in a... Metro 2013: Best Actor (Critics) for Paan Singh Tomar 2018: Best Actor for Hindi Medium Government of India Awards 2011: Honoured with Padma Shri by the Government of India Other Awards 2004: Screen Awards for Best Performance in a Negative Role for Haasil 2012: CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2013: Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences awarded him as Best Male Character for Paan Singh Tomar Note: Along with these, he had many other awards, honours, and achievements to his name.
Personal Life
Date of Birth	7 January 1967 (Saturday)
Birthplace	Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Date of Death	29 April 2020 (Wednesday)
Place of Death	Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai
Death Cause	Colon Infection [2] Note: In 2018, the actor had announced that he’d been diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumour.
Age (at the time of death)	53 Years
Birthplace	Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Zodiac sign	Capricorn
Signature
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Khajuriya Village, Tonk District, Rajasthan, India
College/University	National School of Drama (NSD), New Delhi
Educational Qualification	Diploma in Dramatic Arts from NSD [3]
Religion	Islam
Caste/Ethnicity	Pathan [4]
Food Habit	Vegetarian [5]
Address	5th floor of an apartment in Oshiwara, Mumbai
Hobbies	Reading, Playing Cricket
Controversy	In July 2016, he landed himself in a controversy over remarks on the Islamic ritual of ‘qurbani’, or sacrificing animals on Eid-al-Adha, while he was promoting his film Madaari in Jaipur. He said, "Jitne rituals hain, jitney festivals hain, hum unka asal matlab bhool gaye hain. Hamne unko ek tamasha bana diya he. (We have forgotten the real meaning behind rituals and festivals and have turned them into a spectacle). Qurbani ek bahut ahem festival hai… it means to sacrifice. A goat was then a prime source of food, and there were many who went hungry. So you had to, in a way, sacrifice something dear to you and distribute it to people." His comments were criticized by the Muslim clerics. Irrfan in reply tweeted, "Pls Bhaiyon, who r upset with my statement, either u r not ready to introspect or u r in a hurry to reach to a conclusion."
Girls, Affairs and More
Marital Status	Married
Affairs/Girlfriends	Sutapa Sikdar (Dialogue writer)
Marriage Date	23 February 1995
Family
Wife/Spouse	Sutapa Sikdar (Dialogue writer, m. 1995-present)
Children	Sons- Ayaan Khan, Babil Khan Daughter- None
Parents	Father- Sahabzada Yaseen Ali Khan (Entreprenuer) Mother- Sayeeda Begum
Siblings	Brothers- Salman Khan, Imran Khan Sister- Rukhsana Begum
Favourite Things
Actor	Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Marlon Brando
Film	The Men (1950)
Restaurant	Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat in France
Colour	Black
Sport	Cricket
Style Quotient
Car Collection	SUV
Money Factor
Salary (approx.)	Rs. 12-14 crore/film
Net Worth (approx.)	Rs. 344 Crores ($50 million) (as in 2018)

 

Some Lesser Known Facts About Irrfan Khan

• Did Irrfan Khan Smoke?: Yes 

• Did Irrfan Khan Drink Alcohol?: Yes ^[6] In an interview, he explained his drinking habit –

  Drinking’s not a gentleman’s game for me – you know two pegs every evening. If I start drinking, I drink till I drop dead. So generally, I don’t drink, because the next day I don’t like my body, I hate myself. When I was younger, I could keep drinking all night and it wouldn’t hit me that hard.”

• Irrfan was born into a family with royal connections from his mother’s side, and his father was a wealthy Zamindar who wanted him to join their family business of tires.

• In his school, he was a very shy person, and his teachers would often scold him because his voice was never audible in the class.

• Reportedly, he faced a lot of struggle in his teenage, and he even worked as a repairer of air conditioners and also as a tutor to earn his living.

• He aspired to become a cricketer. He was selected for a tournament named CK Nayudu Tournament, which is for players under 23 years, but due to lack of funds, he missed the opportunity.

   

  

  Irrfan Khan Playing Cricket

• While pursuing an MA in Jaipur, he was offered a scholarship to attend NSD (National School of Drama) and thus, he entered the world of drama.

• In his final year at NSD, Mira Nair selected him for a role in Salaam Bombay. However, his role was cut down at the time of its release.

   

  

  Irrfan Khan in Salaam Bombay

• In the initial days of his stay in Mumbai, he shared a flat with Raghubir Yadav.

• He had a remarkable stint on the small screen too and appeared in many popular television shows, such as Bharat Ek Khoj (1988), Chanakya (1991), Banegi Apni Baat (1993), AnooGoonj (1993), Sara Jahan Hamara (1994), Chandrakanta (1994), Star Bestsellers (1995), and Sparsh (1998). 

• Later, he appeared in some unnoticed films during the 90s. But things changed when he got the opportunity to play a role in the British-Indian film ‘The Warrior.’

• He rose to fame with his negative role in Tigmanshu Dhulia‘s film- Haasil in 2003.

• In 2005, he got his first lead role in the film “Rog”, after many of his films got shelved. 

• He met the love of his life- Sutapa Sikdar (now wife) in NSD where they used to study in the same class. She belongs to a Hindu Brahmin family.

• Irrfan changed the name of his spelling from “Irfan” to “Irrfan” in 2012, but there was no numerology behind this, he just liked the sound of extra “r” in his name.

• He had a dream of gifting her mother a suitcase full of money one day.

• His acting in the film “Paan Singh Tomar” (based on the life of Paan Singh Tomar) was critically acclaimed both by the audience and critics, and he also got many accolades for the film, including the National Film Award for Best Actor.

• His acting in the film “Lunch Box” was also critically acclaimed, and it became the only Indian movie to get a TFCA Award (Toronto Film Critics Association).

• For his commitment to the films- Lunch Box and D-Day, he turned down a quite big role in the movie- Interstellar; as he had to leave India and stay in the USA for four months.

• He once told that in 1993, he didn’t have enough money to watch Jurassic Park, but in 2015, he appeared in the American film- Jurassic World.

• Apart from acting, he had also voiced two video games titled “Lego Jurassic World” and “Lego Dimensions”.

• In September 2015, the Rajasthan government named him the brand ambassador of “Resurgent Rajasthan” campaign.

   

  

  Irrfan Khan as the face of Resurgent Rajasthan campaign

• Just because his name resembled a terror suspect, he was detained twice at Los Angeles Airport.

• He was very selective when it came to scripts, and he used to do good research on his role. His writer-wife once told that she had to rewrite the script of some of the episodes of “Banegi Apni Baat” a dozen times because Irrfan wasn’t satisfied with it.

• Despite being born in a Pathan family, he hated Non-Vegetarian food, and his father often used to say that he was a Brahmin born in Pathans. In an interview, he said,

  My family would tell me, Brahmin paida hua Pathano ke ghar mein.” ^[7]

• Irrfan had deep compassion for animals. In an interview, he said,

  Dad always used to take us along when he went hunting. For us, it was adventurous; but when I went with my sister or my little brother, it was a bit traumatic because even though we enjoyed the mystery of the jungle and being in a new environment, when a wild animal was ultimately killed, we used to imagine what would happen to the animal’s family or its mother. We used to create an emotional connect with the animal. I learnt how to use the rifle, but I never hunted with it. I also strangely, did not eat non-vegetarian food; maybe I didn’t enjoy the taste.” ^[8]

  

  Irrfan Khan Playing With a Dog

• He was the first Bollywood actor to have acted in two films that won the Academy Awards – Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Life of Pi (2012). However, the first choice for this role in Slumdog Millionaire was Gulshan Grover.

   

  

  Irrfan Khan in Slumdog Millionaire

• For the film “Piku”, he rejected Ridley Scott’s film- The Martian.

• Reportedly, Irrfan just took two hours to read the script of Blackmail and agreed to do it. It was also reported later that he was diagnosed with a tumour at the time of the shoot of this film.

   

  

  Irrfan Khan In Blackmail

• On 16 March 2018, he revealed that he was suffering from a rare disease called “NeuroEndocrine Tumour”, a situation in which the neuroendocrine cells grow into tumours. 

• There’s a one rupee Indian currency note; bearing his date of birth on it.

   

  

  Irrfan Khan and the Ten Ruppe Note with his Date of Birth on it

• His death on 29 April 2020 was mourned across the nation, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many Bollywood celebs.

   

  

  Tigmanshu Dhulia Leading The Final Rites of Irrfan Khan

• Irrfan Khan had very expressive eyes, and once a critic said,

  Irfaan’s eyes speak louder than his words.”