Two
years
after
the
actor's
death
and
two
decades
after
they
first
worked
together,
Oscar-winning
director
Asif
Kapadia
says
he
is
still
coming
to
terms
with
the
fact
that
Irrfan
Khan
is
no
more.
Working
with
Irrfan
on
the
2001
film
The
Warrior,
his
first
international
project,
was
the
beginning
of
an
amazing
journey,
said
Kapadia.
The
third
person
on
the
ride
was
Monsoon
Shootout
director
Amit
Kumar.
"That
relationship
with
Irrfan
and
Amit
is
like
this
very
strong
triangle
that
kind
of
formed
us,
that
we
went
on
this
amazing
journey
together.
We
all
remained
friends,”
Kapadia
told
PTI
in
a
Zoom
interview
from
London.
"The
last
time
I
was
in
Bombay,
Amit
and
I
went
to
see
Irrfan.
We
have
not
come
to
terms
with
it.
It's
also
strange
because
I
haven't
been
able
to
travel
really
since
all
of
this
happened
last
year," Kapadia,
best
known
for
his
documentaries
Senna,
Amy
and
Diego
Maradona,
said.
The
director,
whose
2015
documentary
Amy
on
singer
Amy
Winehouse
won
the
best
documentary
feature
Oscar,
said
he
and
Kumar
miss
Irrfan
every
day.
Irrfan,
one
of
the
first
actors
from
India
to
have
made
significant
strides
in
international
cinema
with
films
such
as
The
Namesake,
Slumdog
Millionaire
and
Life
of
Pi,
died
in
April
last
year
following
a
two-year
battle
with
a
neuroendocrine
tumor,
a
rare
form
of
cancer.
He
was
54.
In
"The
Warrior",
the
film
that
brought
Irrfan
to
the
attention
of
the
international
film
community,
the
actor
played
a
warrior
who
goes
through
a
spiritual
transformation.
Kapadia
said
Irrfan
was
and
continues
to
be
special
for
him.
"We
miss
him,
and
he
was
amazing
and
he
was
special
and
we
must
not
forget
Irrfan,
not
just
for
the
work
that
he
did,
but
he
was
a
good
guy,
he
never
changed.
He
was
always
like
this
wonderful,
spiritual
human
being,"
the
49-year-old
director
said.
Kumar,
whose
Amazon
Prime
Video
show
The
Last
Hour
has
been
executive
produced
by
Kapadia,
recalled
Irrfan
as
being
a
person
with
a
“certain
kind
of
aura”.
"For
me,
he
was
such
a
warm
person.
It's
interesting
that
Asif
used
the
word
spiritual
to
describe
Irrfan
because
there
was
a
certain
kind
of
aura
around
him.
There
was
more
than
just
his
physical
being,
you
felt
that
there's
something
very
special
in
him,"
the
Mumbai-based
director
said
in
the
same
interview.
He
added
that
he
and
Kapadia
travelled
around
the
country
for
two
or
three
months
while
preparing
and
researching
for
The
Warrior.
That's
how
he
came
up
with
the
idea
for
his
critically-acclaimed
2003
short
film
Bypass,
which
featured
Irrfan
and
Nawazuddin
Siddiqui.
The
actors
later
went
on
to
work
together
in
The
Lunchbox.
Describing
the
coming
together
of
Irrfan,
Siddiqui
and
Kapadia
for
Bypass
as
“magical
realignment
of
destiny",
Kumar
said
working
with
the
actor
on
the
film
is
a
memory
close
to
his
heart.
"I
had
worked
with
Asif
on
The
Warrior
and
I
could
see
everything
that
Irrfan
was
doing
in
that.
I
thought,
'I
really
need
to
try
and
work
with
him',
and
then
Bypass
happened,"
Kumar
told
the
news
agency.