“I Miss Our Laughter Baba”
New Delhi:
It’s been three years since Qala actor Babil Khan lost his dad Irrfan Khan to a neuroendocrine tumour but he still misses the “laughter” that he shared with his late father. Wednesday began on an emotional note when Babil Khan posted a throwback picture of his late father, looking at a trophy at the 8th Asian Film Awards in 2014. Sharing the image, Babil wrote extensively about Irrfan, who “loved being a father more than being an actor.” Babil’s note for dad read, “Those eyes that watch, a validation which you have already explored to spiritually absorb through internal means rather than the external illusions of self-worth, I’d blame your stubborn determination of committing a lifetime to transcend from innate survival instincts to a journey engraved in cultivating your creative ‘intuitions’, through means greater than ‘understanding and intellect’, and yet in your actions towards the compulsion of celebrity, you were truthfully eager to live your/the physical experience of the very ironic phenomenon; as if even with the awareness of what was going to happen, you believed in the uncertainties of the known.”
Babil further continued, “And that for me is the seemingly unachievable mantle I want to hold in relation to the craft of acting; to be aware that a story might have a systematically planned narrative but the magic is the ability to create (through surrender) within the mechanics of artificiality, I want that enlightenment of process so dear in my palms.”
Recalling how Irrfan was a devoted father, Babil concluded, “I miss when you used to look at Ayaan and me with that glint in your eye as if nothing else existed, even after you had achieved more than a man could ask from himself, just in those moments I realised you loved being a father more than being an actor, and imagine that after being the best actor in the world. It makes me feel like I didn’t value your concern enough. I miss our laughter baba.”
See Babil’s touching post:
In January this year, Babil celebrated dad Irrfan’s birthday with a beautiful post. Babil shared a couple of childhood throwbacks, in which he can be seen with his late father Irrfan Khan. Babil accompanied the post with an emotional caption. He wrote: “Questions keep me up at night. Those that I never asked then, those that I can never ask now. My inquiries are left for me to quench on my own, that’s okay, I will figure it out. I miss your laughter though, I don’t think there is an answer for that. Remembering a day when you arrived here.”
Babil Khan shared this post:
Irrfan Khan died at a Mumbai hospital on April 29, 2020. He battled a tumour for several months and returned to Mumbai after being treated in London. Irrfan Khan is survived by his wife Sutapa and sons Babil and Ayan.
Babil Khan made his acting debut with the film Qala, co-starring Triptii Dimri, Swastika Mukherjee and Varun Grover. The film, directed by Anvita Dutt, was released on Netflix last year.
