The King Khan – Irrfan khan – A filmography(part 2)
Continuing from part 1 here … Here’s a humble tribute to Irrfan khan’s and Vishal bhardwaj’s classic Maqbool .. This film alone deserves a seperate post !!!!
Maqbool – (Urdu meaning- God’s beloved) a Vishal Bhardwaj adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth
This is the best .. the best hindi film ever I’ve seen in recent times. Macbeth as such itself is such a dramatic play that it was half the job done for Vishal bhardwaj.The other actors Pankaj Kapoor, Tabu, Piyush Mishra, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, even Ajay Gehl and Mausami makhija ..and the once newsreader turned actor Shammi Narang pitched in with amazing performances. The betrayl .. the ambition .. lust .. loyalty… love… jealousy .. murder.. self doubts ..even spiritualism … the range of emotions which this film has is unparalleled.
I could go on and on about this classic … about how near perfect this film is…the same way i can go about Nayagan … or Satya perhaps. But I will concentrate on Irrfan’s performance only ..otherwise… I may never be able to finish this post.
For starters I think he was not the first choice for the lead role. I believe the role was offered to Kaykay, Akshay kumar and even Kamal hassan (he has said that he was supposed to do the film).. but Irrfan got the role.
This role needed him to be fairly passive unlike Shakespeare’s character..and Vishal has cleverly transformed macbeth’s soliloquies into Irrfan’s actions-reactions-expressions. There is certain quality in him from the very first scene that u see, that he is a loyal lietunant of Abbaji, but his loyalty is vulnerable too. In fact he never expresses it actively unlike his compatriot Piyush mishra. When Asif-sala is killed, they (Piyush,Irrfan and Usman) run into the room. That ’shows loyalty’ rather than ‘telling it’.
The role needed someone who could act with his eyes ..and Irrfan seems almost irreplacable. In fact every actor/actress seems irreplacable in the film.
This was tantamount to harakiri … Having Irrfan’s dialogue style and not utilising it was slightly risky and tricky. That too immideately after Haasil ..where he had swallowed everyone else with his stylish dialogue delivery. Nevertheless Irrfan managed it. Credit both to him and the director.
Some memorable scenes of Irrfan
1. In the start when he says to the cops who are quizzing him on who had called on the phone “Inki padosan … mileyiga ??”
2. At the round table conference “mauka miltey hi phan maregay Boti” (the moment he gets a chance, he will betray us)
Again in the same scene, he expresses his self doubt when he is promoted to ‘Bollywood’.
Of course the subtle yet sure serious “Hagna mootna seekha nahin – Dhandha sikhata hai ??” (You are not even toilet trained, and you are trying to teach us buisness?) ..
3. The scene where abbaji coughs at dinner…and he rushes into fetch water. Tabu plays with the pail of water with Irrfan … much to his frustrations…and the legendary “aaj kal tujhe pyaas nahi lagt miyaan” line (You don’t feel thirsty these days ??)
4. The entire road scene with Tabu … where she seduces him and starts to put serious doubts in his mind about the ascendancy to the ‘throne’. The range of expressions and voice modulations with the word ‘Jhoot’ !!! From absolute dismissal..to doubt ..to suspicion and vulnerability … An amazing scene and due credit to the director too.
5. Ru baru song … a scene where Pankaj Kapoor kisses Tabu’s feet… Irrfan, Tabu and Mausami’s expressions are a treat to watch…
6. The cop-slapping scene “Arey suno ..kitna maal chahiye ..10,000 – 20,000 … mil jaayega.. Chalo hatao yeh gaadi yahaan sey” (How much bribe do u want ?? You will get it.. Now remove the cars and clear the way)
The coaxing ..and then the false authority with which he waves his hand… and after the slap .. his reaction of shock ..then realisation ..and then helplessness.
Even when he, piyush and Usman come with the bail application.. you see Irrfan with a sense of authority and hurt (and perhaps false) pride all over his face ..his expression says “you may have slapped me.. but I’m not disturbed”
7. The scene in the courtyard “Toh mera laafa khaayega beech bazaar mein bhosle ?????” Priceless !! To date I’m not sure if he says Bhosle or Bhose***ey !!! The frustrated anger almost erupts for a split second.
8. Finally when he lets the cat out of the bag … “Guddu jayega” … and then “Pooch apney chaand key tukdey sey pooch”
9. “Gala kaat doonga tera !!! ” (I will cut off your neck)
“Abhi nahi ..raat ko” (Not now … cut (bite) in the night)
“Jaan meri … Meri jaan … jaan meri…”
“Tu lucknow waapas kyun nahi jaati chinaal saali ”
Can anyone act better ????
10. “Merey BAAP hain woh…. Is ghar mein main bachchon ki tarah pala hoon “. His voice modulation is classic in this scene…. (and so is Tabu’s response – “Paaley toh kuttey bhi jaatey hain!!”)
And Irrfan’s stunned reaction !!!! (On a sidetrack – You almost want to go and kill Tabu at this point for her brilliant repartee…)
11. With Piyush…as the calculative “Yaa toh goli maar ..ya phir aa key gale mil” (either shoot me or hug me) ..
12. The doubtfully hinting and yet not directly condemning/alleging “Tum aakhri baar Jehangir key Saath kab soyi thi ??” (When was the last time you slept with the boss ?) His eyes convey the fighting within him …
13. “Iska baap abhi zinda hai” (his father is still alive).. the scorpions have crept in and started driving him crazy….
14. The emotional breakdown with Tabu …when Tabu has gone crazy … the passports fall out of his hands … and the realisation creeps in… I remember being emotionally hammered after watching that scene …
All his scenes of 2nd half have him using his expressions and his dialogue delivery to the T.
Noteworthy mention to the final climax scene in the hospital. The helplessness and fatality striking him … Its like a man who has died. The haunting background score by Vishaal in this scene was a gem. The last 15 mins or so of the film is carried by Irrfan’s eyes …. just HIS EYES …he has barely a line or two in that portion of the film !!!!!
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh I so wanna watch the film for the umpteenmpth time now !!!
to be continued ….
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
maqbool is my pick for the best best best best adapted film in any language.
irfan khan is an ACTOR, no more praises for him
tabu, i feel shld get back in shape, theres lot to come frm her, i m sayin this bcoz u knw frankly jo dikhta hai woh bikta hai, and tabu ka kuch zyaada hee dikhta hai (i mean FAT) pls tabu get fit soon
omfg!!!!!! true justice to the character but i(shld i say we all?) want MORE of this stuff.
amazing stuff!!
plz say ‘to be contd…’ meant that irrfan-maqbool is dealt in the next post as well.
normally i think i dont go into such ‘post praises’ but this one surely deserves it.
abt Bhonsle/Bhos**ey(pt. 7) i always thgt that he said ‘Bhonsle’.
i dint understand the last line of pt.6 (’You may have slapped me but i am not disturbed’). i dont think that he implied that coz then the ‘emotional breakdown’ of sorts described in pt.7 wldnt have made sense. i thgt he said(wid eyes) “Take that fucker!See wat i can do(transfer/bail)”
cant believe you dint describe the way he dances in the song ‘Jhinminjhini’.surely Farah Khan wldnt b thinking of Hrithik Roshan on watching that but still that dance has its own charm(nothing to take away from Pankaj Kapur who in that sequence takes it further in keeping the viewer ‘charmed’).
btw in the scene ‘Jee karta hai isme upna lahoo/ghosht daldun’(eng:I almost wanna add my blood/meat to the food,seeing ur enthusiasm) did u/ne1 else sense any guilt in his eyes(it just occurred 2 me.saw the movie long time back).
Miyaan Maqbool….the scene where Maqbool is cooking Biryani and Pankaj Kapur feels proud of him…WOW!!!
When he slaps Tabu…When he tries to act like a foster father…when tries to impress the rest of the gang…damn…what a performance by Miyaan Maqbool…and he doesnt get a National…Joke…
All said and done…i would like to see Irrfan in other roles too..more maybe doing comedy……he failed miserbly in 7 1/2 phere..still he has a lot to prove…
Amazing again Kartik…cant think of anyone who could have done justice to this write-up other than you
I heard that Irrfan’s son and Vishal’s son study in the same school. thats how they met …..and irrfan had just done haasil…and he gave a dvd to vishal…vishal too was undecided on the cast….as you have mentioned that he was considering…akshay, kk….
Kamal Haasan was news to me….aaaahhhhhaaaa…..aaaaabhiraaami…someMiyan Maqbool it would have been with kamal in it what say Kartik….:d
After this post I think PFC should consider conferring a honorary PHd….for your work on Irrfan Khan and Maqbool.
Hail Dr. Kartik Krishnan…….[aaandavaaaa :d]
now please do a honorary work on Irrfan as Ranvijay Singh in Haasil….easily the best person to have played this character
tabu was looking so tired in fanaa you could count how many bags she had under her eyes.. in “the namesake” however, she looked gorgeous and elegant throughout the movie.. loved her performance in maqbool. and the more you praise irrfan, the less it is… so my bit is done
the imdb says that Deepak Dobriyal was there in Maqbool as Thapa. can you/any1 help me recall that character. i cant recall that character.