Irrfan goes gay, again!

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Posted: 19 years ago

Irrfan goes gay, again!
By: Upala KBR
February 15, 2007

Irrfan Khan in Tum Se

After acting in Ashish Balram Nagpal's Adhura, Irrfan Khan is all set to play a gay man once again. This time, it's in Mira Nair's yet untitled short film on HIV/AIDS. The film also stars Sameera Reddy and Shiney Ahuja.

Hot action!

Irrfan has no qualms about playing a queer role. He says, "I don't think it's detrimental to my career to play such roles. We are not laughing at gay people in the film; what is important is the message.

Mira's film is about creating awareness about HIV/AIDS, so I don't care about my image or what people will say. The purpose is supreme."
Previously, Irrfan played a gay man in Adhura where he and Nagpal shared some intimate scenes.

"If Ashish had a crush on me, he expressed it in the most intimate way in the film! Adhura was made for TV audiences, but I don't know why it never get released," says the actor.

Daunting tasks

In Mira Nair's The Namesake (which releases next month), Irrfan plays an older man. He says, "I didn't like the experience of aging while playing the role. The body slowly starts giving up on you and you realise that you aren't as agile as you used to be. That was quite traumatic for me."

However, Irrfan adds that such roles demand a particular kind of experience. "It's important to do them. One must know what the experience is all about. Like when I was playing a cocaine addict in Naseer's (Shah) film Yun Hota To Kya Hota, I tried the drug for the first time.

I wanted to know how the body and the brain reacts when one snorts coke, but I didn't find it addictive. It did get me jittery. I will never do it again as I hated that feeling of panic. The after-effects of such drugs aren't enjoyable at all."

Sensitive subject

Few know that Irrfan almost starred in last week's release Black Friday. Even though he hasn't watched the film yet, the actor has no regrets. He says, "Anurag (Kashyap) had approached me to play Badshah Khan's role in the film, but I refused.

I felt it was a sensitive issue and that communal passions might flare up. I didn't want to be part of a project that had the potential to incite violence."

A new project that has Irrfan very excited is Rohit Shetty's Sunday, which also stars Ajay Devgan, Ayesha Takia and Arshad Warsi. He says, "Rohit and I have been wanting to work together for a really long time, and it's finally happening now.

I play a struggling actor that nobody wants to work with, so I keep changing my look in the film. It will also be fun working with Arshad again after Chocolate."