The PGA Honours ‘Irrif Kahn’

In what can  be deemed a shocking  and disgraceful display of  First-World arrogance, the  prestigious  Producers  Guild  Of  America(PGA)  ‘honoured’ Irrfan  Khan in its ‘In Memoriam’ section. But the  honour was hardly honourable, as  the PGA  misspelt  Irrfan’s name  as  ‘Irrif Kahn’ sparking  off a wave  of outrage among  the last actor’s fans. 

 Irrfan’s  wife the writer  Sutapa Sarkar and his two sons are unlikely to feel honoured  on Irrfan’s  behalf.If  they can’t even spell the  actor’s name properly how  can they honour him?

Interestingly this minor snub(minor  when seen  in  the  light of  the actor’s  achievements) to the  great actor’s reputation comes  a day after Rana Daggubati(have I   got the spelling  right?!)   pulled  up Filmfare  for misspelling his  name.  

Incidentally  Irrfan had dropped  the ‘Khan’ from his name  many years  ago when it  was  subjected  to  repeated  scrutiny  at  American airports. 

Irrfan  dropped  his surname after being  subjected to Islamophobic  surveillance  in the US.  He  told me,  “It happened to me on two occasions. I was detained in New York and Los Angeles airport for secondary interrogation. I was outraged. I was told to quietly come into a room for questioning and identification verification. I wasn’t allowed to talk. When I tried to ask why I was being treated this way, I was told to keep quiet. I wasn’t allowed to use my phone. They said, ‘No, you just sit down.’ All because my name was Irrfan Khan. You can’t argue or rationalize.” Surname  or  no name, Irrfan remained  the  most  talented  Khan  in  Bollywood.