Two years ago, Irrfan Khan was last performed on the big screen in Akash Khurana’s Karwaan. It’s been a long time since then. As he anticipates the release of Angrezi Medium, Irrfan still battles to a frightful illness and has kept himself away from the promotions of the movie. The audience is anxious to have him back although, and this will get Irrfan’s another unreleased film Apno Se Bewafai to hit the screens too.
In the conversation to director Prakash Bhalekar, who, however, says they were always intending to release it around this time. “We were looking to release it at a particular time anyway. Co-incidentally, Angrezi Medium also came up at the same time. We were releasing ours around March-end, but since Angrezi Medium is already releasing, we shifted it to April,” he said.
The film has completed nearly two years ago but never saw the light of the theatres. Was it only the financial pressure that caused the delay? “Irrfan sir fell sick, and to still go ahead and release the film did not look like a good plan to us. The financial issue was minor. This was the primary reason. Otherwise, it would look wrong on a humane ground,” Bhalekar answered, adding that they did bear some loss but did not want to take advantage of Irrfan’s illness and make money.
Irrfan Khan has recently shared an emotional audio note, to make everyone in the swim about his appearance in Angrezi Medium promotion, would not be able to be a part of Angrezi Medium promotions. In that case, there’s no way he is going to promote Apno Se Bewafai either. “Same problem here. He is actually ill. His health issue is grave. We pray to God that he recovers quickly. It is his film, he has done a splendid job,” he tells us and says the other new actors in the film will all promote it. But Bhalekar begs to differ. “Irrfan has a different audience of his own. His films aren’t just commercial, they bank on their subject. This film is no exception. People who want to watch the film will watch it anyway,” he says.
And finally, we all are excited to know to him what are his plans, given that the Coronavirus scare has taken over Bollywood too, and film releases, as well as trailer launch events, are being delayed one after another. “Like a man needs food in order to survive, he also needs films for entertainment. If not a hundred, fifty people will go and watch it. Films are the next essential thing after ‘Roti, Kapda Aur Makaan’. Coronavirus might be a problem, but where do people release their own stress?” he laughs.
