Irrfan Khan's role slashed in Slumdog Millionaire

Irrfan Khan's role slashed in Slumdog Millionaire

By Subhash K. Jha, January 24, 2009 - 12:56 IST

Irrfan Khan's role in Slumdog Millionaire has been seriously chopped off. Apparently a lot of his footage had to be deleted for the sake of a tightly bound narrative.

Irrfan, who plays the cop interrogating the young hero to know how he knows all the answers on the game-show, is surprisingly candid on the cutting down of his characterization. "I saw how much my role was edited when I was dubbing for the Hindi version. My role especially in the second-half has been drastically reduced. But I'm not complaining. Just look at the impact the film has made. I'm so proud to be a part of it.", says the talented actor

Shedding light on his role's radical reduction Irrfan says, "In the second-half my character goes through this complete redemptive graph which has been removed. After brutally interrogating the boy my character of the police officer personally takes him back to the game show when he gets to know that the boy did it for love. That entire track has been removed. But that's okay. Roles are often reduced for the betterment of the film. This isn't the first time this has happened to me. Actors must stop being possessive about what they shoot."

Irrfan was recently in Jaipur visiting his mother and that is the reason why he wasn't at the Golden Globe ceremony. "Of course I was invited. But I had made plans to spend time with my mother long time back. If I missed this chance, I'd not have been able to visit her again for a very long time. I'd rather fly kites in my mother's home than blow kisses in LA. I'm not new to international events. I've been through them with films like The Namesake, Warrior and A Mighty Heart."

Irrfan is also unperturbed by the charge of Slumdog Millionaire selling Mumbai's misery to the West. "It's the reality. Why should it be swept under the carpet? Why should Danny Boyle have been concerned about what image of Mumbai goes out when we've done nothing to keep our own city morally and physically clean? Danny saw a good dramatic story on Mumbai. He came and shot that story. As far as the filth goes, we're a dead and dying society, and the sooner we face up to it the better our chances of redeeming ourselves. Look at the Satyam scandal. Can you imagine how many working-class families have been ruined because of the avarice of top brass at the company? And I'm sure there're many other companies just waiting to do a similar con job on us. Now if tomorrow another foreign filmmaker comes to do an expose on Satyam, are we going to call him exploitative?"

Irrfan is now looking forward to gauging the response to the Hindi dubbed version of Slumdog Millionaire. "I'm sure the Hindi version will be liked. It's the English version I'm apprehensive about. The intelligentsia will ask questions about the hero from the Mumbai slums speaking fluent English. The Hindi viewers will just have a good time." ,signs off the versatile actor.

http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/features/2009/01/24/4767/index.html

I just love this dude!!! I don't care that he isn't goodlooking. He always impresses you with his phenomenol acting . I've been following him since his Doordarshan days. Also, its so nice to hear someone say, all's well that ends well rather than cry and moan that his role got cut. 😃

^No problem. Definitely, he has a good head on his shoulders. He dedicates himself to his work. And as far as I am concerned that is what matters the most, a great performance.

Woah. I don't think I've ever read an Irrfan Khan interview/article here. Thank you!

Its nice to know that he cares about the movie and doesn't mind his role being chopped off.. which kind of makes me angry. 😆😆 (not the fact that he doesn't mind, but the fact that his role got chopped off)

Thanks - he was great in Namesake too.
He is funny too - when asked to comment on the film getting the GG by some desi channel he said " I was in the movie too so Mera bhi jai ho "

^You're welcome. 😳 Interesting tidbit about him that he had a short cameo role that he worked really hard for in Salaam Bombay, but it was completely edited out of the film. And he was extremely hurt by it because that was when he was trying to make a name for himself. Here is an excerpt of where he talks about the incident. I really like his honesty.

You started you career with Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay, 20 years ago. How does it feel playing the lead role in a Mira Nair film all over again?
When I was about to shoot for Salaam Bombay they decided that the framing was not right. I was supposed to play the role with little kids. Because of my height as compared to the kids, the framing was looking odd. So they cut the role off in the last moment. I was really hurt when they cut my role from Salaam Bombay. I cried a lot because we did the workshop for two months with the street kids, and I just came out of school. She picked me up from the school performance and just after that I got this role. So for me it was great! But when the role was cut it was a huge disappointment for me. But when she offered me the role for The Namesake, she said I owed you a role. After so many years Mira told me that I owe you a role and this is it. So I am offering you Ashoke.

Originally posted by: cinnamonrani

^You're welcome. 😳 Interesting tidbit about him that he had a short cameo role that he worked really hard for in Salaam Bombay, but it was completely edited out of the film. And he was extremely hurt by it because that was when he was trying to make a name for himself. Here is an excerpt of where he talks about the incident. I really like his honesty.

You started you career with Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay, 20 years ago. How does it feel playing the lead role in a Mira Nair film all over again?
When I was about to shoot for Salaam Bombay they decided that the framing was not right. I was supposed to play the role with little kids. Because of my height as compared to the kids, the framing was looking odd. So they cut the role off in the last moment. I was really hurt when they cut my role from Salaam Bombay. I cried a lot because we did the workshop for two months with the street kids, and I just came out of school. She picked me up from the school performance and just after that I got this role. So for me it was great! But when the role was cut it was a huge disappointment for me. But when she offered me the role for The Namesake, she said I owed you a role. After so many years Mira told me that I owe you a role and this is it. So I am offering you Ashoke.

Great Trivia - thanks again👏

he is one of my favorite actor

I love Irfan's acting! He never fails to impress...and that is very big of him to not complain with his scenes being reduced....many others would have! I also like his response to Mumbai crying foul about SDM....what a fitting answer!