Irrfan Khan’s son Babil, who plans to follow the footsteps of his late father, penned a heartfelt note about Bollywood, along with pictures of the late actor who passed away in April after more than a year-long battle with neuroendocrine tumour.
He revealed how his father was defeated at the box office almost all of his life due to hunks with six-pack abs, despite his efforts “to elevate the art of acting in the adverse conditions” which prevails in Bollywood.
He shared it on Instagram and wrote, “He warned me that I’ll have to prove myself as Bollywood is seldom respected in world cinema and at these moments I must inform about the Indian cinema that’s beyond our controlled Bollywood. Unfortunately, it did happen. Bollywood was not respected, no awareness of 60’s – 90’s Indian cinema or credibility of opinion.”
He added, “There was literally one single lecture in the world cinema segment about Indian cinema called ‘Bollywood and Beyond’, that too gone through in a class full of chuckles. it was tough to even get a sensible conversation about the real Indian cinema of Satyajit Ray and K.Asif going.”
Babil also mentioned how the audience needs to own up the blame for the success of mediocrity in Indian cinema as it has seldom welcomed realistic, uncomfortable stories on the big screen.
He wrote, “You know why that is? Because we, as the Indian audience, refused to evolve. My father gave his life trying to elevate the art of acting in the adverse conditions of noughties Bollywood and alas, for almost all of his journey, was defeated in the box office by hunks with six pack abs delivering theatrical one-liners and defying the laws of physics and reality, photoshopped item songs, just blatant sexism and same-old conventional representations of patriarchy (and you must understand, to be defeated at the box office means that majority of the investment in Bollywood would be going to the winners, engulfing us in a vicious circle). Because we as an audience wanted that, we enjoyed it, all we sought was entertainment and safety of thought, so afraid to have our delicate illusion of reality shattered, so unaccepting of any shift in perception.”
“All effort to explore the potential of cinema and its implications on humanity and existentialism was at best kept by the sidelines.”
Babil acknowledged the fact mentioned that the perception of audiences is changing and the youth craves for a “deeper meaning” in movies. “Now there is a change, a new fragrance in the wind. A new youth, searching for a new meaning. We must stand our ground, not let this thirst for a deeper meaning be repressed again.”
Babil also spoke about Sushant Singh Rajput’s tragic death that sparked discussions around the quality of films and treatment of artistes, He concluded the post and wrote, “Although I resent that Sushant’s demise has now become a fluster of political debates, but if a positive change is manifesting, in the way of the Taoist, we embrace it.”
