By Kabir Deb
Recently the official YouTube channel of The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) released six of Irrfan’s early films to celebrate his style and range of acting. It was not surprising for me to witness one of the greatest actors of all time deliver the most complex emotions without a single dialogue, and with absolute conviction.
These short films can be considered as masterclass lessons for not just actors, but even for those who write or draw the human emotions. Most of us speak about Irrfan’s Sufi thoughts, choice of scripts, his humour, and how the maverick made us believe in cinema. Only a few people notice that in the early stage of his NSD life and FTII session, he acted in plays and films where he had to play roles which were against the basics of his belief. He did not get the option to choose scripts, but like always he elevated them to a whole new level. And now, those plays or films have become a perfect template for the new age actors to stay content with the art form.
There is a significant reason why Irrfan is still considered a teacher when it comes to acting with the body. It was not because of his natural prowess in finding the correct nerves of the characters he played in his lifetime. Rather it was mainly because of how he pushed his mind to understand the needs of the other characters of the plays or films. A mirror always knows what it has to do to complement the axis or the script. Irrfan has always been the mirror and he made the plot move around his demeanour. Through these six films, we get a better knowledge of how even in these amateur and strictly absurd projects, he invested himself completely to ensure that he grew with the flow of the film. Today everyone is going to talk about the ‘human Irrfan’ and the actor who left us with heavy hearts. I would like to discuss about the actor Irrfan who insinuated the art form into our very veins!
You Can’t Give Any Reason (1992)
This absurd yet powerful film on migration, exploitation and faith easily gets into our nerves with its disturbing message. We are still a country that gives importance to class and normalizes discrimination on the basis of money. Poverty takes us in two ways – we either become overtly devoted to the God we believe in. Or we simply move ourselves away from putting our faith in something that never comes before us to heal our problems. From the first shot to the last, the story hits hard on our faith and every character is forced by circumstances to question the same. The film also shows us how bureaucracy and the justice system operate and a film that’s thirty-two years old mirrors the present situation without missing a beat. It’s sad, yes. But it is the reality that we should not escape from. Leenus L. K. gives us a story where Irrfan becomes the toy for the privileged class of the society. His wife is thrown into prison and his daughter is hypnotized by poverty and in turn, her organs are trafficked in exchange of money. The family receives nothing like most families and all Irrfan is left with a mind that grieves and destroys himself by putting an end to his faith.
Veg. Non-Veg (1992)
The Gurpal Singh directed short film talks about humanity amidst chaos. The set designing of the film and make-up of the characters keep theater as the template. So, we see clouded imageries more than direct consequences. Irrfan makes the dark character arc of the antagonist appear realistic and puts a few questions in our mind. Some of them are:
Rahul Solapurkar carries the story on his back, but the surprising thing is, even with a screen appearance time of ten minutes, Irrfan shows us how the evil of the society torments the kind-hearted human beings.
Manoeuvre (1992)
Most of the film lovers have witnessed the devilish side of Irrfan in mainstream cinema through the Vishal Bharadwaj directorial venture ‘Maqbool’. After years, Kiran Bali’s project gave us an Irrfan we have not seen in the mainstream. The psychopathic character of the film, played by Irrfan is not an insane man. He knows his fantasies and has no regret. A womaniser in his early 30s and a merciless killer is portrayed by Irrfan with absolute precision. Memory is the real protagonist of the film and is also the driving force which leads the human protagonist (Irrfan) to do unimaginable crimes out of remembrance and guilt. It is tough for those who have already seen the major films of Irrfan to recognise this film’s Macbeth who is morally disturbed and tries to magnify his gritty nature more than what he actually is.
This dark film puts certain questions before the audience as well:
A Briefcase Full of Reflexive Maladies (1992)
Adinath Das gives us a film that has the answer to a long-submerged question: how money regulates relationships and what gives it the authority to do so? The film does not follow the linear storyline. It is not a story where two lines run parallel to each other. Rather, the storyline broadens with time and then slowly turns into a dot. This particular dot is very important since it tightly holds the expanded bubble of every situation that appears like the film. Our approach towards money in the age of capitalism and monopoly should be taken into concern. It regulates the way we behave and channelizes our core energy to describe several other lives tethered to us. In this film, Irrfan and Navjot Hansra express love through a loud silence since money is playing a pivotal role between their polar opposite personalities. It is still a malfunction of most relationships and in a capitalist society, class is always going to be an agent of love. The suffering it brings goes unnoticed and all we are left with is an emptiness we do not deserve.
Reconnaissance (1992)
This Sandeep Chatterjee written and directed film takes us on a journey where everything seems complete, but there is a tinge of incompleteness after completion. It happens mostly when we are unable to express our emotions which represents our honest self. In this film, Irrfan plays the role of a man who is sensitive, emotional and lost in dreams. But he lacks the skill of expressing his emotions. This happens in the state of loss and whenever we come across such a situation, we repress our desires since the human body contracts in times of crisis. A natural reflex that’s not in our control (an involuntary response). Similarly, in this film, the director shows that the same happens with the human mind. Even in the state of overexpression, we are constantly piling the bits and pieces of circumstances over our actual nature.
Morning (1990)
This film has been haunting me from past two weeks. It does not carry a message of the naked reality. Rather it brings out a thought, directed towards freedom, which most burdened women think about when they are forced to do their jobs without making any noise. This particular thought can be evil for a patriarchal world, but there is a state of liberation in killing what holds them behind. In this story, Shambhavi Kaul plays the role of a housemaid who is asked to do every household work, which although pays her bills yet drains her mind. Irrfan follows Maya throughout the narrative as the beaker of the story. She stores her thoughts in him without having any conversation and keeps it safe within his heart. A morbid plot that brings disturbance with it. But, at the same time, the joy of liberation is conveyed without any loud expression.
On the fifth death anniversary of Irrfan, we must give these films a space in our hearts to understand his range of acting. They become important to bring together a raw amalgamate of what the maverick did before he became our personal storyteller. We did not choose to be an audience of Irrfan’s skill. He widened his personal world to shower on us stories which matter.
