Babil Khan, who made his Bollywood debut with Qala, never misses an opportunity to express his love and admiration for his father, the late actor Irrfan Khan. The actor died at a Mumbai hospital on April 29, 2020. Now, in a recent interview with Humans Of Bombay, Babil revealed that his mother Sutapa Sikdar compiled “17 pages of criticism” after watching Paan Singh Tomar. FYI: The 2012 film, by National Award-winning director Tigmanshu Dhulia, was based on the life of athlete Paan Singh Tomar. For his performance in the film, Irrfan also won the Best Actor prize at the 60th National Awards. Recalling the incident, Babil said, “How do I explain this? After Baba did Paan Singh Tomar, and he came back home. Mumma had 17 pages of criticism. So, I can't stay in that room where mumma is watching my film.”
On how Sutapa Sikdar had reacted to Qala, Babil said, “Mumma said ‘You did good for a first-timer.' That's what she said. So I know how hard I have to go.”
Babil Khan also said he, initially, wanted to become an astronaut. “The first thing was an astronaut. But you don't realise that actually you don't want to be an astronaut as a kid you just want to explore. People used to tell me that you have to become an actor when you grow up because you know lineage, father, and legacy. And I used to rebel against that a lot. I remember vehemently telling people that I would not be an actor. But I think that was me just rebelling,” he said.
Babil Khan revealed that Irrfan Khan had promised to help him work on his acting skills. The Qala actor continued, “But more than me, my father [Irrfan Khan] knew that this kid was born to be an artist. He knew that this boy was born to express. It took me a very long time to finally get around to accepting that I wanted to be an actor. First, it was rebelling and next, it was fear because, of course, I realised how good Baba [Irrfan Khan] was.”
He added, “Then finally I think in his [Irrfan Khan] cancer period I gave in and I said that I want to be an actor. Then he [Irrfan Khan] said go to film school and understand cinema because I know you don't want to act on stage. So I went to film school and he [Irrfan Khan] said when you are back from film school I will teach you acting. And then he [Irrfan Khan] left before he could teach me acting.”
Babil Khan was last seen in the Netflix series The Railway Men.