Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, who is gearing up for the release of his next movie The Bengal Files on September 5, looked back at his previous directorial Chocolate and how it was working with Irrfan Khan back then.
The 2005 film is a mystery thriller said to be inspired by the 1995 American film The Usual Suspects. It also starred Anil Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, Emraan Hashmi, Tanushree Dutta and many others.
During a chat with Mashable India, Agnihotri looked back at how he misses Irrfan. “His death was a great loss. I wrote a very philosophical article. I really miss him. He was a great person.” Irrfan played a bomb blast and robbery suspect in the film set in the UK.
On Irrfan’s working style
Agnihotri said the working of style of Irrfan was very spontaneous and unexpected, “Irrfan was an astounding artist and I really enjoyed working with him. He’d never let you know what he’ll deliver on camera. He rehearsed something else and gave a different kind of take. I realised he’s very spontaneous. He understood the soul of the scene and then enacted it according to his own interpretation. His co-actors would never realise what he’d do.”
Healthy competition between Anil Kapoor, Irrfan on Chocolate set
The filmmaker added that because of his spontaneity, many actors, including Anil Kapoor found it a tad challenging to react to his acting in a scene. “Anil Kapoor would follow the script as written. He’s a different kind of performer. He’s full of energy. On the contrary, when Irrfan sat, you’d think he has no energy. Anil Kapoor thought about how they’d do the scene because Irrfan didn’t rehearse. But then, if you watch their scenes together in Chocolate, they are brilliant scenes. It was like a competition between the two about who can surprise more in a scene. Both of them were such experienced actors.”
Irrfan Khan, off camera
Agnihotri however revealed that off set, Irrfan was a lot of fun to be with. He shared, “After pack-up, he was a different person altogether. Everyone used to gather in his room for drinks. And while chatting and having fun, he used to just collapse and sleep at any moment, in any corner of the room. Infact, we had to lift him and take him to his room so many times.”
Meanwhile, Agnihotri’s latest offering The Bengal Files explores Bengal’s hidden history and completes his powerful Files Trilogy.