Kareena Calls Irrfan Khan’s Wife Sutapa a ‘True Soldier’: My Heart Swells For Her

One of the finest actors of Bollywood, Irrfan Khan passed away at the age of 54 after battling with the neuroendocrine tumour for two long years. He was admitted to Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on Tuesday, however, breathed his last on April 29, Wednesday. 

In a film career spanning almost thirty years, Irrfan delivered impeccable performances ranging from Hindi Cinema to Hollywood. Some of his best work include Salaam Bombay!, Life in a... Metro, Paan Singh Tomar, The Lunchbox, Piku, Hindi Medium to name a few.

Khan had worked in several international projects such as The Warrior (2001), The Namesake (2006), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), the Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008), New York, I Love You (2009), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Life of Pi (2012), Jurassic World (2015) and Inferno (2016).

He was last seen in the film Angrezi Medium also starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Radhika Madan and Deepak Dobriyal in lead roles. His co-star Kareena opened up about her experience of working with Irrfan as she told Filmfare, “It was on my bucket list... After I saw him in Maqbool. I just had be in the frame with this electrifying actor, a persona that was incomparable when the camera was switched on.”

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Kareena also recalled the warm memory when she first met Irrfan’s wife Sutapa on set. The actress referred to Sutapa, who was Irrfan’s biggest pillar of strength in the tough times as a ‘true soldier’.

“I had the pleasure of spending some time with his wife too at the shoot. Humble but even though they were going through so much at the time ...I will never forget her smile. She was the true soldier is what I gathered. My heart swells for her but life can be cruel and the only truth we know is that we will go one day. Irrfan is at peace and in turn his films will warm the cockles of our heart forever. Thank you for your great work only small humble way I would like to say,” shared Kareena.

Irrfan Khan’s demise is a great loss for the movie industry and stars including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and many others had offered their condolences to the actor’s family.

After losing their beloved Irrfan, his family Wife Sutapa, and Sons Babil, Ayaan issued a heartfelt note that is sure to leave you teary-eyed. Read it below:

How can I write this as a family statement when the whole world is taking it as a personal loss? How can I begin to feel alone when millions are grieving with us at the moment? I want to assure everyone that this is not a loss, it is a gain. It’s a gain of the things he taught us, and now we shall finally begin to truly implement it and evolve. Yet I want to try to fill in the things that people don’t already know. It’s unbelievable for us but I would put it in Irrfan’s words, “it’s magical” whether he is there or not there, and that’s what he loved, he never loved one dimensional reality. The only thing I have a grudge against him is; he has spoiled me for life. His strive for perfection doesn’t let me settle for ordinary in any thing. There was a rhythm which he always saw in everything, even in cacophony and chaos, so I have learnt to sing and dance to the music of that rhythm, even with my tone-deaf voice and two left feet. Funnily, our life was a masterclass in acting, so when the dramatic entry of the “uninvited guests” happened, I had by then learnt, to see a harmony in the cacophony. The doctor’s reports were like scripts which I wanted to perfect, so I never miss any detail that he sought for in his performance. We met some amazing people in this journey and the list is endless, but there are some whom I have to mention, our oncologist Dr. Nitesh Rohtogi (Max hospital Saket) who held our hand in the beginning, Dr. Dan Krell (UK), Dr. Shidravi (UK), my heartbeat and my lantern in the dark Dr. Sevanti Limaye (Kokilaben hospital). It’s difficult to explain what a wondrous, beautiful, overwhelming, painful and exciting this journey has been. I find this 2 and 1/2 years to have been an interlude, which had it’s own beginning, middle and culmination with Irrfan helming the role of the orchestra conductor, separate from the 35 years of our companionship, ours was not a marriage, it was a union. I see my little family, in a boat, with both my sons Babil and Ayaan, paddling it forward, with Irrfan guiding them “wahan nahi, yahan se modo” but since life is not cinema and there are no retakes, I sincerely wish my children sail this boat safely with their father’s guidance in mind and rockabye through the storm.

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