Am Indian actor, Irrfan Khan, who brought a modern sensibility to recent hit films and hard roles in Hollywood movies such as “Life of Pi” and “The Namesake”, is dead.
Khan died on Wednesday at age 54.
He died after a prolonged battle with cancer as confirmed by a spokesman who said the deceased actor was surrounded by family at the time.
According to him,“He fought the many battles that came with it,” the spokesman said in a statement, referring to the diagnosis of Khan’s rare cancer in 2018.
It would be recalled that Khan was among the first Indian actors to make a consistent mark in Western cinema, following in the footsteps of crossover pioneers such as Saeed Jaffrey, Roshan Seth and Om Puri.
Born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan in the western desert state of Rajasthan, in a family with no ties to cinema, the actor recalled in interviews that as children, he and his siblings were not allowed to watch movies, adding that the only exception was when a visiting uncle took them to the theatre.
He was described as “An incredible talent,” by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, among the tributes on Twitter that followed Khan’s death.
“A gracious colleague. A prolific contributor to the world of cinema .. left us too soon creating a huge vacuum,” he tweeted.
