Versatile Irrfan

MUMBAI:

Of late Irrfan Khan has been attempting different genres and coming up trumps, including in the highly acclaimed The Namesake.

He plays challenging roles in two forthcoming films — of a coffee seller on a railway platform and a mentally unbalanced person.

He recently shot for an action-comedy where for the first time he got to do stunts. Irrfan had to research before playing coffee seller in Nishikant Kamath’s Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan. The

role required a whole lot of physical re-orientation for the actor.

Irrfan studied the behaviour of the platform people before plunging into the role.

“It’s the kind of part that just saps you. I’m getting exhausted playing this guy. But what a far cry from the bhadralok I played in The Namesake,” he said.

“I’m looking for challenges now all the time. I’d be bored to repeat myself.”

And in Rakesh Roshan’s Krazy 4, his first production for an outside director, Irrfan will play a mentally imbalanced character.

“The Krazy 4 of the title, that’s me, Rajpal Yadav, Arshad Warsi and Suresh Menon, are funny people, sad people, real people,

mad people. It’s very difficult to play a mentally challenged person without going

over the top.”

Coffee-wallah or crazy, Irrfan seems to enjoy the idea of traversing the whole gamut of roles.