Irrfan Khan, a Padma Shri recipient is one of the best actors ever produced by India. His exemplary work in both Hindi Cinema and Hollywood speaks volume of his talent. He is a National Award winner and has acted in a series of blockbuster Hollywood movies like Jurassic World, Life of Pi etc being the prominent ones. He is now set to appear with Tom Hanks in Inferno.
He is very choosy about his roles and unlike many Bollywood stars (excluding Priyanka Chopra), he simply rejected roles as they could’nt do justice to his outstanding talent. Well, we aren’t here to discuss Irrfan’s acting talent. This blog is for completely different reasons.
I want to discuss if Irrfan Khan should be considered as the Bollywood Icon instead of the three Mega- Khans’.
A few days back Irrfan Khan, publically questioned the fasting during Ramzaan. He said and I quote:
“Rather than fasting during Ramzan, people should self-introspect. Animals are being slaughtered in the name of Qurbaani during Muharram. We, Muslims, have made a mockery of Muharram. It is meant for mourning and what do we do?”
These are no anti-nationalist or anti-religious comments, it reflects the real meaning of Islam and subsequently humanity. The statement carries genuine concern and highlights the issue of animal cruelty. Now, what have SRK, SALLU and AAMIR said till date?
Before the release of their films, they issue anti-nationalist statements, without any thought to the consequences of those statements. Recently, Salman Khan gave a controversial statement on “Rape”. Aamir Khan triggered a debate on intolerance in India when he said that his wife does’nt feel secured and would like to leave the country. SRK is no stranger to controversial statements. Now, how can we expect these stars to issue public statements like these and still be the icons of Hindi Cinema and the country? To be honest, in the recent past, movies of SRK and Salman had no meaningful plot or character depth. Is this what Hindi Cinema has been reduced to?
On, the other hand, there is Irrfan who actually delivers great performances in his movies and issues mature statements which are logical and progressive.
Who do you want to choose as your icons – “THE THREE KHANS WHO LABEL THIS COUNTRY ANTI-NATIONAL, MAKE INDECENT REMARKS ON A RAPED WOMAN or ABUSE IN A STADIUM” or an “ACTOR who actually “ACTS”, and deals with what he says carefully?
Choice is yours…
