'Irrfan Khan once abused Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri on Maqbool sets, both of them froze,' reveals this actor

Vishal Bhardwaj’s first tryst with William Shakespeare happened when he made the 2003 Maqbool, one of his finest till date. It had the unforgettable ensemble of Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Pankaj Kapur, Deepak Dobriyal, Naseeruddin Shah, and Om Puri.

Dobriyal, who collaborated with Bhardwaj once again in the 2006 Omkara, has revealed in an interview how the late Irrfan Khan once abused Puri and Shah during the shooting of a scene and what happened next.

The actor revealed, “There was a scene where Kaka (Piyush Mishra) gets killed, and his body is brought to Irrfan bhai’s house.”

He added, “As Irrfan bhai starts mourning, someone asks Om Puri saab where he found the body. And he says, ‘In the backyard of the haveli.’ But the way he pronounced ‘haveli’ made everyone laugh. The scene had to be cut.”

When Irrfan Khan lost his cool

Dobriyal revealed, “You could see it was bothering Irrfan bhai. He was in character, fully present. But no one had the courage to say anything to Om ji or Naseer saab, they are legends.”

“In the middle of a take, Irrfan bhai just exploded. He abused, right there during the shot. Then immediately, he apologised and said, ‘Sorry, I thought abusing would help me act.’"

Naseeruddin Shah says he once had a discussion about the definition of originality with Javed Akhtar when he told the screenwriter that his 1975 classic Sholay was a copy of Charlie Chaplin and Hollywood filmmaker Clint Eastwood’s works.

Sholay, which Akhtar co-wrote with former writing partner Salim Khan, is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential Indian films of all time. “I remember Javed Akhtar had once said to me, ‘Something can be called original when you can’t find its source’. I was talking to him about Sholay, and I said, ‘You have copied every scene, you didn’t leave any of Charlie Chaplin’s films, besides Clint Eastwood is felt in every frame.