Vishal Bhardwaj has revealed that his late friend Irrfan was skeptical about his decision to cast Saif Ali Khan as Langda Tyagi in “Omkara” and thought he was a better fit for the character.
The director recounted what Irrfan said to him after he got to know that he had roped in Saif to play Langda Tyagi in the 2006 movie, adapted from William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello".
"For the role of Langda Tyagi, you have Saif play the part and it will be a huge deal if he even agrees to cut his hair. I should be doing this part. But by then, Saif was locked and it (shoot) had happened. I think if Irrfan had done it (played Langda Tyagi), it would have been something else entirely,” Bhardwaj said.
He was speaking at a session on Wednesday evening post the special screening of “A Story That Refused to Die”, a documentary on Irrfan’s film “Paan Singh Tomar”.
Though Irrfan did not feature in “Omkara”, the second instalment of the director’s acclaimed Shakespearean trilogy, he headlined the first movie "Maqbool" (2003) and played a pivotal part in the third film “Haider” (2014).
"Maqbool", an adaptation of "Macbeth" and set in the Mumbai underworld, featured Irrfan in the titular role. "Haider", based on "Hamlet" and set in Kashmir, saw him play the mysterious character of Roohdaar.
Bhardwaj said Irrfan initially declined to play the small role in "Haider".
"I told him to read it as it is about Kashmir and it is a film about politics. Irrfan was a very politically aware person and he later said, ‘This film should be made and I will do this part’,” he recalled.
According to Bhardwaj, both he and Irrfan had their fare share of disagreements.
Once, the filmmaker didn’t speak to the actor for over two years after they had a misunderstanding over “Ishqiya” (2010), which Bhardwaj had produced.
The black comedy, directed by Abhishek Chaubey, starred Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi and garnered wide acclaim upon its release.
"Irrfan wanted to do ‘Ishqiya’ but ‘No Smoking’ (produced by Bhardwaj) had failed and when we went to Irrfan for his dates, he said, ‘I thought you will not produce any more film after ‘No Smoking’ failed, and hence I gave the dates to someone else’.
"I was like, ‘Irrfan, this is not how things work. If a film fails, will I stop making films?’ The film was to be made by Abhishek Chaubey and many things happened during that time. I was very upset with Irrfan and didn’t speak to him for two years,” he recounted.
The ice finally broke during “7 Khoon Maaf”, when Bhardwaj approached Irrfan and he immediately agreed to be part of it. In the 2011 movie, the actor essayed the role of the third husband of the protagonist, Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (Priyanka Chopra Jonas).
“For the role, I couldn’t think of anyone but Irrfan. So when I called him up, he said, ‘I was waiting for your call for a very long time. I don’t want to listen to the role, I want to persuade you, so I’ll do anything that you give me.' He was such a lovely soul,” the filmmaker said.
Bhardwaj also opened up about the many films that never materialised, including an adaptation of “Tirichh”, based on a story by Uday Prakash, and a romantic film titled “Dream Sequence”, in which Irrfan was to play a singer.
"He loved to sing and dance. Irrfan had shared the video of a Persian girl, playing a Persian instrument, she was very beautiful and had a good presence. He said that he would do it but that also didn't happen,” he recalled.
There was also a film that would have reunited Irrfan with his "Piku" co-star Deepika Padukone. Bhardwaj recently made that project, titled “O’ Romeo”, with actors Shahid Kapoor and Triptii Dimri.
For Bhardwaj, Irrfan’s absence continues to be deeply felt, especially whenever he conceives a new idea.
“When you think of a film, you miss him because Irrfan was not just a great actor, but aesthetically he was profound, politically aware, and we could make anything with him. With Irrfan, you could do anything but that’s not possible to do today with anyone else (actors),” he added.
“A Story That Refused to Die”, the documentary on Irrfan’s 2012 film, “Paan Singh Tomar”, captures the making of the biographical drama, Irrfan’s process, and behind-the-scene moments from the shoot.
Directed by Ranjeeta Kaur and produced by Angad Films and Tigmanshu Dhulia Films, the documentary was screened on the sixth death anniversary of Irrfan last night at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre.
Filmmakers such as Tigmanshu Dhulia, Shoojit Sircar, Imtiaz Ali, actor Aditya Rawal, Manu Rishi, Deepak Dobriyal, and many others were in attendance. Irrfan’s wife Sutapa Sikdar and son Babil also attended the screening.
Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.