Indian actor Irrfan Khan, a Bollywood superstar and known to the western public for his participation in titles such as Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi or Jurassic World, has passed away at the age of 53 in India.
The actor had been admitted to the ICU of a Kokilaben Hospital for days for complications from cancer he had suffered since 2018. “Surrounded by his love, by his family, he went to heaven leaving an authentic legacy. We all pray and hope that he is at peace,” said his representative agency in a statement collected by the BBC.
After taking his first steps on television, Khan made his feature film debut with a cameo in 1988 in the film Salaam Bombay!, a drama that was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film directed by Mira Nair. After continuing his work on Indian television, he completed his first internationally relevant work starring in the film The Warrior, an epic adventure tale directed by Asif Kapadia that won the BAFTA for Best British Film in 2001.
In 2003, he played Macbeth in Vishal Bharadwaj’s Maqbool and filmed again for Mira Nair in 2006 in the American production The Namesake. In 2007, he appeared in Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited and in 2008 in Danny Boyle’s Academy Award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, for which he won the American Actors Guild Award along with the rest of the cast.
In 2012, he starred in The Amazing Spider-Man and Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning film Life of Pi in which he brought to life the mature version of the protagonist. After several years starring in films in India, he returned to Hollywood in 2015 with Jurassic World and in 2016 with Inferno adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel where he shared shots with Tom Cruise and Felicity Jones.
