Overview (4)

Mini Bio (1)

Born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan, in Jaipur, Rajasthan (NW India) January 7, 1967 to a Pashto-speaking Muslim family. Khan's mother, Begum Khan, was from the Tonk Hakim family and his father, Jagirdar Khan, from the Khajuriya village near the Tonk district, ran a tire business.



The Khan family name comes from Turkish and Mongol languages and mean "king" or great leader. Descendants of Genghis Khan (13th century) in central Asia adopted Islam and became the Moghuls, who conquered India for several centuries until Brittish rule.



Irfan was a skilled cricket player. In his early 20's he was selected for the CK Nayudu Tournament (a stepping stone to First Class cricket). He did not turn up for the tournament owing to lack of funds and as a result he focused on acting.



In 1984 he earned a scholarship to the National School of Acting in New Delhi.



He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honor for his contribution to the field of arts.



His portrayal of Paan Singh Tomar in the acclaimed biographical sports drama Paan Singh Tomar (2011) won him the National Film Award for Best Actor and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor. His performance in the BAFTA Award nominated romance The Lunchbox (2013) earned him universal acclaim by the critics and audiences.



Globally, Khan was in The Warrior (2001), The Namesake (2006), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), the Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008), New York, I Love You (2009), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Life of Pi (2012), Jurassic World (2015) and Inferno (2016). As of 2017, his films have grossed $3.643 billion at the worldwide box office. In 2018, Khan was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor.



Khan got married to his wife Sutapa Sikdar, in 1995. She is a Hindu of the Brahmin caste. She is a movie producer, dialogue writer and screenwriter. Among her famous movies are Khamoshi: The Musical (Dialogue Writer, 1996), Supari (Dialogue Writer, 2003), Kahaani (Dialogue Writer, 2003), Madaari (Producer, 2016), Qarib Qarib Singlle (Producer, 2017)



They have two kids: Ayaan Khan, Babil Khan



Unlike most Indian film stars, Irrfan has been outspoken on religion. On Arnab Goswami's talk show, he took on Muslim fundamentalists, including India's Grand Imam. Irrfan Khan argued against "transactional religious interaction" and for "personal religious discovery"..."to discover yourself, to find God". Though he admits he is "not an authority" on the Koran and Islamic Holy scriptures he has bravely stood by his comments despite heavy criticism and even threats of violence. He's aware of the dangers that his frank comments pose to him and his family. His wife commented, "We are very proud of him."

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Apollo Karuna

Spouse (1)

Trivia (48)



The first Bollywood actor to star in two films that won the Academy Award for Best Director ( Slumdog Millionär (2008) and Life of Pi: Schiffbruch mit Tiger (2012)). Both films also won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.

Was signed for the film "Tezaab - Acid of Love" but opted out.



Was signed for Deepa Mehta's Midnight Children, but was replaced by Ronit Roy.



Had signed a film titled "Fanne Khan" directed by Shivam Nair. He was later replaced by Randeep Hooda . Kunal Khemu's name was also being talked about as being the lead. The film was announced in 2012 and was shelved in 2014.



Was signed for the lead role in Mira Nair's movie The Reluctant Fundamentalist. He later opted out as he did not want to play a terrorist.



Starred in Tigmanshu Dhulia's shelved 2006 period drama "Ghulaami" co-starring Sunny Deol and Sameera Reddy.



Starred in Tigmanshu Dhulia's shelved 2004 film "The Killing of a Porn Filmaker". Co starring Konkana Sen Sharma. In the film Irrfan plays a porn film maker who finds out he was Adolf Hitler in his last life time. To pay for his sins of his last life time, he starts to do charity work. He is killed by a Jew in the end of the film.



Starred in the shelved film 1998 "Kanoon Ki Zanjeer". Directed by Dilip Gautam and Baal Nave. Co starring Chandrashekhar, Seema Kashyap, Laxmi Chhaya, Asha Sharma, Avtar Gill, Junior Mehmood, Kiran Kumar, Bharat Kapoor, Ram Sethi, Rakesh Bedi. Music by: Mewalal Sharma and Anmol.



Starred in Anil Sharma's 2004 shelved production "Phaansi", which was to get directed by Chandrakant Barve and co-star Sunil Shetty (as a Punjabi sardar), Rahul Dev, and Deepti Bhatnagar.



He was signed for an important role in Anurag Kashyap's "Black Friday" but opted out.



Starred in director Navneet Baj Saini's 2007 shelved film "Teersri Manzil", which co-starred Lucky Ali, Ranveer Shorey, Deepal Shaw, and Nausheen Ali Sardar. The films title was later changed to "Bangkok Blues".



Starred in Jaya Pradha's 2006 shelved home production, a suspense thriller. It was to get directed by Kitu Gosh and co-star Jaya Pradha, Priyanshu Chatterjee, and Sandhya Mridul.



Was approached to star in Anjan Das's film "Faltu" (2005), starring Yash Pandit Manjari, Tinnu Anand, and Anjan Srivastav. It was produced by Planline Life. The film was based on the partition. He agreed to star in the film but later had to back out.



Was signed for the film "Gangor" aka (Choli Ke Peeche) but was replaced by Adil Hussein.



Starred in Mahesh Bhatt's 2004 shelved production based on Abdul Karim Telgi, directed by Pooja Bhatt.



Starred in Sudhir Mishra's shelved film "The Nawab The Nautch Girl and The John Company" co-starring Saif Ali Khan, and Chitrangada Singh. It was a period film based in 1857. Sudhir initially wanted Anil Kapoor in the film. This was in 2003.



Wife Sutapa is a dialogue writer in films.



Had gone to see the shooting of Ganga Ke Saugandh and Jal Mahal as a child. Both films were shot in his home town.



Was offered a role in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with Sean Connery. The deal fell though at the last minute.



Was offered Matt Damon's part in 'Interstellar' and Chiwetel Ejiofer's part in 'The Martian', he ended up turning down both roles due to scheduling conflicts.



Starred in Ragini and Vibha Bhatnagar's shelved untitled film in 2005, co-starring Amisha Patel and Dino Morea, directed by Vikram Bhatt. The film was going to be a genre never attempted before by Vikram Bhatt.



Was going to star in the Hollywood movie "Indian Summer". The controversial film "Indian Summer", about Lady Edwina Mountbatten's alleged affair with India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, has been scrapped. Based on the book of the same name by Alex Von Tunzelmann about the last days of Britain's colonial rule in India, the film got in trouble after the Indian government voiced concerns over the plot. Officials demanded copy approval of the script and eventually gave the film the green light, but the project continued to be plagued by money problems, with bosses at Universal Studios reportedly fretting over the estimated $30-40 million cost. Director Joe Wright (husband of Anoushka Shankar) says the wrangling with the Indian government effectively sealed the film's fate. "We were in between a rock and a hard place. The Indian government wanted us to make less of the love story while the studio wanted us to make more of the love story," he told Variety magazine. Cate Blanchett was roped in to play Edwina in the movie while Irrfan Khan was to play Nehru.



Two of the films that he has worked on (Slumdog Millionaire and Life of Pi) collectively won 12 Oscars.



Starred in Dheeraj Kumar's shelved film "Behind The Painted Veil" (2003), directed by Roger Christian. The film was going to be a international cross over film whose cast was to include Gulshan Grover .



Starred in the shelved film "Alibaug", a Sanjay Gupta film based on an episode from Gupta's life. This film revolves around a young professor, who was once the life of his college. He is now dying, but has something to take care off before he breathes his last. He wishes to bring together his favorite bunch of students, who've drifted apart, and let the mad race of life take over their existence. Will the dying man help them make regain their lives?... Sanjay Dutt was to make a Special Appearance, but in March 2008 he asked Gupta to replace him. He had shot for ten days in June 2007, but after his separation from White Feather Films and Gupta and with his many other pending commitments, Sanjay obviously didn't find place for Alibaug anymore in his schedule. His role went to Irrfan Khan. But even then, the film was never completed.



When he arrived in Bombay, he worked as a air conditioner repair man. One of the first houses he visited to repair a air conditioner was the house of superstar Rajesh Khanna.



Starred in the shelved film "Jai Ramji Ki" (2011). It was to star Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda, and Preity Zinta, directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia. There is speculation it was later made as Bullet Raja .



Starred in the shelved film "Aye Dil Sambhal Zara" (2011). It was to star Arjun Rampal, Raveena Tandon, and Paresh Rawal, directed by Chandrakant Patil. The film was to be a remake of Shaukeen.



Irrfan auditioned for a role in Ram Gopal Varma's Daud, which Manoj Bajpai ended up signing .



Starred in the shelved movie "Tumse" (2007), which was to star Deepal Shaw, directed by Navneet Baj Saini.



Starred in the shelved Indo/French Production "Divine Lovers"(2013) Starring Irrfan Khan, Kangana Ranaut. Produced by The movie will be produced by Shailesh R Singh and Irrfan Khan, in collaboration with Leonard Glowinski . It was to be put together by the French film commission, DGA Film France and directed by Sai Kabir.



In 2015 he said no to working on Ridley Scott's The Martian, instead choosing a charming love story Piku, set in Delhi and Kolkata (Calcutta).



Four days before his own decease in april 29th 2020, Khan's 95-year-old mother died in Jaipur. Khan could not attend her funeral because of India's nationwide lock-down aimed at tackling the COVID-19 virus pandemic.



Irrfan also said no to Ridley Scott's Body of Lies (2008). And his biggest regret was missing out on Christopher Nolan's Intersteller (2014), because his smaller India-based project The Lunchbox was being shot at the same time.



Had signed Kal Kisne Dekha (2009) with Jackie Bhagnani but later opted out.



Sudhir Mishra was planning a film in 2003 titled "Who's Speaking". The basis was an event of a phone call. It is then that the entire situation gets out of hand. There are three main characters in the film-two male, 1 female. He had signed Irrfan and was going to approach Ajay Devgan. The film may have been a remake of Phone Booth which Irrfan did in Knock Out (2010).



In 2009, Anurag Kashyap had been traveling all over Punjab and gathering information about the revolutionary poet, Avtar Singh Sandhu also known as Pash. Irrfan Khan had been chosen to play Pash. The actor was doing his homework well. and preparing for his most challenging role so far. He was reading up on Pash. He is also learning Punjabi, so as to be able to recite Pash's poems in his own voice.Pash died a mysterious death when he was 38-years-old. The project got shelved.



James Bond movie Octopussy was shot in Rajasthan,India. Irrfan auditioned for a role of a extra and was selected. He was unable to shoot for the film because he arrived late on the sets .



Starred in the shelved movie "Kutumb" (2004). Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Irrfan Khan. Produced by Firoz Nadiadwala and Directed by Vikram Bhatt (Replaced Mahesh Manjrekar).The film was based on the movie Godfather.



Starrred in the shelved movie "Begum Samru"(2013) Starring Irrfan Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia.



Irrfan Khan signed the film Once Upon a Time in Mumbai in 2008. He later opted out and Randeep Hooda was signed.



Mira Nair had signed Irrfan Khan for a very important role in "Shantaram"(2007). Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Johnny Depp. The film got shelved.



Starred in the shelved movie Pushpanjali Productions untitled film in 1990. Starring Irrfan Khan, Poornima Naidu,David Paul, Directed by Ravi Dutt.



There were reports that in 2016, Sanjay Leela Bhansali was planning a biopic on poet-lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi,titled "Gustakhiyan". Priyanka Chopra was roped in to play Amrita Pritam with Irrfan Khan to play Sahir Ludhianvi. Sushant Singh Rajput was meant to play Imroze, Amrita Pritam's lover.



Signed Sujoy Ghosh's Durga Rani Singh in 2015. It was eventually made as Kahani 2. Arjun Rampal stepped into Irrfan's role.



Signed Yaara in 2014. He was replaced by Vidyut Jamwal. Vidyut was suppose to play the younger version only. After Irrfan left the film, Vidyut was signed to play both the younger and older version of the character.



Personal Quotes (2)

I often visualized giving my mother this big black suitcase crammed with notes like those gangsters do in our masala flicks.



We're yet to make inroads into the West and the way Chinese cinema is made. I mean, long before Ang Lee's 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon', Bruce Lee had made an impact on the Western audience with his 'Enter The Dragon'. Indian cinema has yet to make that kind of impact. But we're getting there.

