Courtesy of CNN
The Bollywood film industry has long been problematic in a number of ways. It is colorist and often racist. It portrays minority groups in South Asia (like Tamils and Sikhs) through damaging stereotypes, tacitly encourages religious and casteist divides and normalizes stalking and the suppression of women. In the past few decades, Bollywood movies that uplift marginalized people and tell poignant stories have been hard to come by. Such film projects are often sidelined by conformist audiences, while apolitical actors and directors value profit over quality storytelling.
Irrfan Khan was an exception. The West knows him for his gamut of Hollywood roles, from “Life of Pi,” “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “Jurassic World” to “Inferno,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Namesake.” This was a big deal. His American filmography spanned an era in which there was virtually no South Asian representation in films. The few South Asian actors in the film industry were privileged, upper-class Hindus. Khan, on the other hand, was born into a lower-class family that practiced Islam, a faith Hollywood introduced only through bigoted lenses of evil and terrorism. His father relied on the little funds he received from his business selling tires to make a living.
Khan had everything going against him. Yet, he shone as an actor, making a name for himself and garnering a slew of awards and nominations on the way. Peter Bradshaw, an English film critic with The Guardian, called Khan “a distinguished and charismatic star in Hindi and English-language movies whose hardworking career was an enormously valuable bridge between South Asian and Hollywood cinema.”
Khan’s work in the West, however, is just a mere sliver of what he contributed to the field of film. His 2009 film “New York” spoke to the horrendous discrimination Muslim Americans faced in the United States following the attacks on the Twin Towers in September 2001. “Haider” illuminated the violence with which the Indian Army was treating Kashmiri civilians and “Madaari” highlighted the danger of corrupt politicians. “Shadows of Time,” a Bengali-language film produced in Germany, shed light on child labor while “Partition” chronicled the pain present during the partition of India in 1947. “Mumbai Meri Jaan” revolved around the aftermath of the train bombings that shook the city of Mumbai in 2006 while “Talvar” dealt with the misogyny surrounding the 2008 Noida double murder case. These movies portrayed real wounds and dismantled hate and injustice. Growing up with these films redefined how many viewed social issues.
Earlier in his career, Khan also played Vladimir Lenin in a show titled “Laal Ghaas Par Neele Ghode” and a Marxist activist in “Kahkashan.” These roles were significant given right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s normalization and support of religious violence. Time after time again, Khan has approached film from unconventional angles, becoming a household name around the world. He took pride in his work, arguably more than most others. For one, Khan stood against the term “Bollywood.” Given the uniqueness of Hindi films and their origin in Farsi theatre, Khan felt the very term “Bollywood” rendered the industry inferior to Hollywood, the industry the name derives from.
In early 2018, Khan announced that he had been diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor. When he passed away due to a colon infection this Wednesday, April 29, he left behind an incredible legacy. His accolades are nothing compared to the smiles, laughs and tears his movies induced. South Asian cinema, of course, has a long way to go; it is still defined largely by sexism, queerphobia, gender stereotypes, religious intolerance and classism. Yet, the life and work of Khan gives many a sense of hope that sometimes, raw emotions and beautiful stories can outdo the troublesome ones.
