Mumbai: The family of deceased actor Irrfan Khan wants to respect the positive spirit of Irrfan Khan. It said Friday the actor never liked the idea of ‘one dimensional reality’. This thought gives them hope to take his death not as a loss but a gain ‘of the things he taught us’. The family will try to see rhythm in everything.
The best way to celebrate Irrfan’s life, his wife Sutapa Sikdar, said would be to implement those teachings and evolve. That’s what she and their two sons – Babil and Ayaan – plan to do.
Irrfan, one of India’s finest actors, lost his battle with a rare form of cancer and died in a hospital here Wednesday. His death left cinema lovers across the globe heartbroken.
Sutapa has acknowledged the outpouring of grief from the actor’s fans everywhere. The writer-producer has said she cannot ‘begin to feel alone’ when millions were grieving with her.
“I want to assure everyone that this (Irrfan’s death) is not a loss, it is a gain. It’s a gain of the things he taught us. Now we shall finally begin to truly implement it and evolve,” said Sutapa
She said even though it is hard to come to terms with Irrfan’s absence, he taught her to not settle for ‘ordinary in anything’. “It’s unbelievable for us but I would put it in Irrfan’s words. ‘It’s magical’ whether he is there or not there, and that’s what he loved, he never loved one dimensional reality. The only thing I have a grudge against him is; he has spoiled me for life. His strive for perfection doesn’t let me settle for ordinary in anything,” Sutapa pointed out.
“There was a rhythm which he always saw in everything, even in cacophony and chaos. So I have learnt to sing and dance to the music of that rhythm, even with my tone-deaf voice and two left feet,” she added.
Calling their lives a masterclass, Sutapa said the actor’s cancer diagnosis taught them to find music in noise.
“I learnt to see a harmony in the cacophony. The doctor’s reports were like scripts which I wanted to be perfect. So that I should never miss any detail which he sought for in his performance,” pointed out Sutapa.
She thanked the ‘amazing people’, the team of doctors in Delhi, United Kingdom (UK) and Mumbai who stood by the family during their darkest phase.
Sutapa said it is tough for her to put in words the two-and-half-year long journey the family had together. She asserted that Irrfan led the battle against cancer from the front.
“It’s difficult to explain what a wondrous, beautiful, overwhelming, painful and exciting this journey has been. I find this period to have been an interlude. It had its own beginning, middle and culmination with Irrfan helming the role of the orchestra conductor…” Sutapa said.
In the absence of their father, Sutapa just hopes her children move ahead with their father’s guidance in mind.
“I see my little family, in a boat, with both my sons Babil and Ayaan, paddling it forward, with Irrfan guiding them. Since life is not cinema and there are no retakes, I sincerely wish my children sail this boat safely with their father’s guidance in mind,” Sutapa said.
Summing up their father’s teachings, Babil and Ayan said that he always asked them to learn to surrender to ‘dance of uncertainty’. He always told them ‘not let their mind control them’.
Sutapa said the family will plant a night-blooming jasmine, Irrfan’s favourite, where he has been laid to rest ‘after a victorious journey’.
Agencies
I