Irrfan Khan's dream role was Sahir Ludhianvi; who will play Sahir now?

Irrfan Khan ’s dream role was that of poet-lyricist-thinker-activist Sahir Ludhianvi, the man who wrote such revolutionary words as _Jinhe naaz hai Hind par woh kahan hai a_nd Aurat ne janam diya mardo ko, mardo ne usse bazar diya jab jee chaha masla kuchla, jab jee chaha dutkar diya. 

Irrfan confessed to me that he’s a huge Sahir fan. “Before him, romantic songs were written in a particular way. Then this man came along and completely changed the idiom and style of romantic expression. He wrote, _Maine tumse hi nahin sabse mohabbat ki ha_i, for a film called Didi. Sahir wrote poetry that expressed the hope and aspirations of the generation that came after Independence. Now we’ve accepted the defeat of that hope. The biggest defeat is our acceptance of the foreign model of existence.”

In fact, so convinced was Irrfan he was born to play Sahir that when he heard other actors like Farhan Akhtar, Shah Rukh Khan and Abhishek Bachchan being considered for Sahir’s role in a biopic to be produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali , he told me, “No that is a mistake. Only I can play Sahir."

Yes, SRK was also considered for the part. This was when Shah Rukh Khan was in an experimental frame of mind. Bhansali and SRK, who together created the epic blockbuster Devdas in the past, were all set to work together again on a bio-pic on Sahir Ludhianvi titled Gustakhiyan. It was to be directed Jasmeet Reen, who eventually made Darlings  which Shah Rukh’s Red Chillies co-produced.

Initially, Irrfan Khan had been roped in to play Sahir when the film was to be produced Ashi Dua. And then, it was Abhishek Bachchan, who lost close to twelve kilos to play the lean and luminous poet who re-defined the post-Independent Hindi film song with words that seemed forged out of the raw material of a wounded Indian civilization.

Abhishek, who is poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan ’s grandson, quietly familiarized himself with Sahir’s luminous lyrics, some of them like Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon and Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein were lip-synced by his father Amitabh Bachchan in Yash Chopra’s Kabhi Kabhie, and also the popular Tum bhi chalo hum bhi chalen in the film Zameer .

This would have been Abhishek’s first collaboration with Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Priyanka  Chopra was excitedly on board to play Amrita Pritam. Then she was out. Theorists had a field day. Some said she wanted to be co-producer along with Bhansali, a theory stoutly denied by both the Chopra and Bhansali camps. Others fell back on the age-old ‘dates’ crisis.

But the real reason why Ms Chopra opted out was she didn’t want to work with Abhishek Bachchan. She was excited as long as the male lead was being offered to other actors like Farhan Akhtar and Irrfan Khan. But when Abhishek was finalized, Priyanka was reluctant to be part of the project. For years, Abhishek refused to work with her after she replaced Aishwarya Rai in Abhishek’s friend Rohan Sippy’s Bluffmaster. Priyanka felt uncomfortable working with Abhishek.

Apparently, when Priyanka expressed her reservations to Bhansali, he politely told her Abhishek stays. So that was that. Maybe some other time?

That goes for you too Irrfan, hope you are enjoying Sahir’s poetry up there.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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