Among the many, many tributes to Irrfan Khan - all of them heartbreaking - perhaps the most powerful and most moving came from his Piku co-star Deepika Padukone, who simply posted a blank black image on Instagram with a broken heart emoticon and the actor's name as a hashtag. No words - both for Irrfan Khan's death and for Deepika's post. Mr Khan died in a Mumbai hospital today. He was 53 and had been battling cancer for the last year-and-a-half. Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan worked very closely in 2015 film Piku; they were also meant to co-star in a future project based on Mumbai's women gangsters.
See Deepika Padukone's post here:
Team Piku were among the earliest to share tributes to Irrfan Khan. Amitabh Bachchan, who played the titular Piku's scatologically-minded father (Deepika played Piku), tweeted, "An incredible talent... A gracious colleague, a prolific contributor to the world of cinema left us too soon, creating a huge vacuum." Piku director Shoojit Sircar tweeted, "We shall meet again."
T 3516 - .. just getting news of the passing of Irfaan Khan .. this is a most disturbing and sad news ..
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) April 29, 2020
An incredible talent .. a gracious colleague .. a prolific contributor to the World of Cinema .. left us too soon .. creating a huge vacuum ..
Prayers and duas
My dear friend Irfaan. You fought and fought and fought. I will always be proud of you.. we shall meet again.. condolences to Sutapa and Babil.. you too fought, Sutapa you gave everything possible in this fight. Peace and Om shanti. Irfaan Khan salute.
— Shoojit Sircar (@ShoojitSircar) April 29, 2020
Piku starred Irrfan Khan in a somewhat unusual role - the romantic hero. He played an unsophisticated taxi owner who reluctantly drives Piku and her impossible father from New Delhi to Kolkata, falling in love with the somewhat capricious Piku on the way.
Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan were to reunite in a film about the Mumbai underworld was to have been helmed by Vishal Bhardwaj, who directed Mr Khan in Maqbool, Haider and 7 Khoon Maaf. In March 2018, after Irrfan Khan announced that he had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumour, Mr Bhardwaj announced in a tweet that the project had been postponed until after "our warrior returns as a winner." That was never to be.
Irrfan is a warrior and we know he will conquer this battle. Therefore @deepikapadukone, Prernaa @kriarj and I have decided to reschedule our film and start with renewed energy and celebration when our warrior returns as a winner.
— Vishal Bhardwaj (@VishalBhardwaj) March 19, 2018
Irrfan Khan's last rites took place in Mumbai on Wednesday afternoon. Vishal Bhardwaj was among the film fraternity members pictured at the hospital before the actor was buried in a Versova graveyard.
