Observation is the main tool of acting: Irrfan Khan

Irrfan Khan Tells Subhash  K Jha  How He  Gets To The Core Of His Characters

Yet another brilliant character portrayal by you in  Qareeb Qareeb Single(QQS). I couldn’t see you.I saw only your character Yogi?

Well…thank  you. But  it has become  a  huge responsibility for me  to keep  delivering what the audience expects  from me. The critics have now started to say, ‘As For Irrfan his good  performance was  only to be  expected.’

Does that scare you?

It doesn’t scare me. But it does make me concerned. What if the next performance doesn’t live up to expectations?

It’s  like expecting good singing from Lata Mangeshkar  or good cricket from Virat Kohli, don’t you think?

Now you are  really scaring me. Itni taarif se darr lagta hai. But then this is what every actor works towards. At least  this is the  kind of  expectation I’ve  worked towards. I  don’t know about others.

 Coming back to Yogi in QQS, let me tell you straightaway that  I never want to meet him.

(laughs) Yes, I get a  lot of that. He  is….annoying, borderline  obnoxious. But he is also a decent human being who respects women and  beats  up anyone who disrespects them. I had  to play him as a coarse even crass man. But still a decent man.It is very important me to show my characters as  respectful towards women.

You have  managed  it. How did you do it?

When I  read  the script Yogi came across as someone loud in dress manner and conversation. The  kind of attention-seeker who makes you cringe. I had to find the basic core of humanism in him and work my way around that.

Such  power  to get to the core  of a  character is not obtainable for too many actors?

It is every actor’s  prerogative  to  observe and imbibe.  Just how much  of  this an actor does is  entirely up to him. To me  observation is  the main tool  of acting. I’ve taken elements  from various people I’ve met  to play all my  characters.

Your co-star in QQS Parvathi is  also a credible real person?

She is amazing and a true find for Hindi cinema. I  hope she gets substantial offers  in Hindi after this.

Your wife is  a co-producer  in QQS.More responsibility for you?

She has done it all on her own. I  am just an actor in the  film.