Sharad Raj explores Irrfan’s extraordinary screen presence, examining how body language, social awareness and meticulous preparation shaped his performances in The Namesake and Paan Singh Tomar, revealing an actor whose smallest gestures spoke volumes.

Naseeruddin Shah once said that the great Shakespearean actor Geoffrey Kendal, father of Jennifer Kendal and father-in-law of Shashi Kapoor, had said that an actor’s body is a vessel that should communicate the intent of the text, the director, and the emotion that needs to reach the audience. Now that I am learning Hindustani classical music and my teacher keeps telling us to embody the note, I realize how difficult it is to be a vessel. To engage with something external, whether a note or an emotion, respond, internalize and then make it your own as you embody it! A monumental task fraught with challenges, often unknown.

Regardless of the art form one practises, one has to concretize the abstract, physically articulate it. More so in cinema, for cinema is a physical medium, a medium that is here and now. Actions and emotions need to be seen on screen to be experienced. The question is HOW?

Irrfan: A Master of Physical Expression

Irrfan was a master of that. Much in the league of some of my favourite actors like Jack Nicholson, Isabelle Huppert, Marcello Mastroianni, Irène Jacob and Al Pacino, among others. Andy Garcia, in his glowing tribute to Al Pacino, once compared him to Paul Cézanne, the painter. Garcia drew parallels between rehearsals and retakes and the number of times Cézanne would keep repainting his strokes till he got them right. Having worked with Irrfan myself, I can vouch for that. The rigour of keeping on doing it again and again on the set and off the set till it is there the way it should be.

Riyaaz, we call it in our culture. My music teacher and my building secretary both have stories of the number of years they were made to just sing a single note, “sa”, for if “sa” is strong, the musician gets the basis for reaching the other notes.

I recently saw Irrfan’s wonderful Paan Singh Tomar (2010), directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, which is the immediate motivation to write this piece, as I was blown away by certain scenes in the film. And, up until now, I keep going back to Andy Garcia’s words and thinking about how many times Irrfan must have practised internalizing certain emotions. How can actors of that stature amalgamate their craft with art? 

The Art of Minimalism in Acting

Comprehending it is beyond the realm of consciousness. Personally, I attribute a lot of importance to social awareness and general awareness of life and its observance; they become priceless inputs to be applied to one’s art.

My favourite example is Dilip Kumar in Devdas (1955), looking at the clock when Paro comes running to him at two in the night. That is his first response to Paro’s entry. It is a masterclass in film acting. It contextualizes the character within a social context, makes him real and relatable. Dilip Kumar makes Devdas a social being. These are not acts of histrionics. These are minute observations of life, expressed with minimum effort. God lies in the detail, they say, and those details and their minimalist articulation make for an outstanding performance, in my view. But minimalism needs ardour.

Irrfan, from very early days, was an actor to look forward to, and he has many formidable performances to his credit. However, the first time I saw glimpses of greatness in him was in Mira Nair’s The Namesake (2006). Irrfan goes to a hospital and, before seeing the doctor, he makes a call to Tabu, his wife in the film, informing her that he feels a little discomfort in his stomach and that he’s seeing a doctor. As he speaks with his wife, he moves his hand on his stomach nonchalantly. At that very moment, I knew he was about to die, get a heart attack perhaps. And his character dies. One of the finest examples of the body as a vessel of information and emotion, and maximum impact with minimum demonstration on the screen.

I have watched that scene again and again, and I still cannot fathom what he does there and how! The level of the dialogue, the body gait, action, and delivery all come together in a wonderful harmony and do the job! Paan Singh Tomar has three such standout moments for me.

Paan Singh Tomar: The Body Speaks

The first is Irrfan at home. As we know, he is in the army. He is lying on a cot, and his kids are all over him. His wife, played by Mahi Gill, is in one corner of the frame, out of focus. Irrfan is playing with the kids, and his eyes wander to Mahi. He gives the kids some loose change to go and buy some chocolates; the kids run away. A lesser actor would immediately grab the wife. Not Irrfan. He waits for a beat, readjusts his body and then organically stretches his hand towards Mahi and then grabs her. He disassociates the two acts of sending the children away and approaching Mahi.

By delaying the action, Irrfan normalizes his desire for his wife, both to himself and her, rather than making it an act of lust. These actions are done most subtly, and never does he strike a false or a high note.

The other one is in the kitchen. But this time, he grabs her from behind as soon as the children leave. I think it is his first private moment with her after he returns home, and his male desire seems uncontrollable, so the immediate grabbing sits perfectly well in that scene.

Irrfan plays both the scenes differently because both are happening at different points in time in the narrative, but both are sensuous and NOT vulgar, enacted by an actor who is well aware of the social milieu he is from and the natural coital desire both men and women have after long periods of separation.

The Power of a Single Gesture

The third gorgeous scene is when Rajendra Gupta asks Irrfan to give up a 5000-metre race and choose the steeple race instead. When he questions Rajendra Gupta, he is told that his daughter is married to the brother of the present winner and that if Paan Singh (Irrfan) beats him, his daughter will have to face the consequences! Irrfan immediately, without batting an eyelid, agrees, fully aware of what it means to be a married daughter’s father. The natural immediacy of Irrfan doesn’t make any noise.

Irrfan, in all his standout performances, whispers!!!