Anup Singh Recalls How Waheeda Rehman’s ‘Pyaasa’ Inspired Irrfan’s ‘Last Dance’

Anup Singh's book 'Irrfan: Dialogues with the Wind' is a tribute to the late actor.

Anup Singh and Irrfan Khan.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Qissa director Anup Singh announced his book, titled ‘Irrfan: Dialogues with the Wind’ on late Irrfan Khan’s 54th birthday. Singh chronicles his friendship- personal and professional- with Irrfan Khan in the book that he said emerged from “tremendous grief”. Anup talks to The Quint about his memories of Irrfan and what moved him to write the book.

“I realised that there was no escape. All around me, there were memories (of Irrfan). And everything in nature, in thought, in something that I might see, he kept on appearing. And I thought perhaps there is a reason for that,” Anup Singh said, adding that they had numerous projects planned together, “We used to say to each other, ‘Till the age of 90, Anoop has some project for Irrfan Khan’.”

Anup also revealed that he didn’t speak to Sutapa Sikdar before writing the book to ‘protect her’, “I thought if I show her some of the things I remembered, it would be painful. It’s too early.”

However, he did want her to read his book before he released it. Talking about her reaction, Anup said, “She read the book and got back to me almost immediately. She said that she laughed and she cried."

The filmmaker also recalled the first time he met Irrfan Khan, while he was shooting a TV series. Anup Singh also revealed how Amitabh Bachchan came to be involved in his book about Irrfan. Bachchan, who worked with Irrfan in Piku, wrote the foreword for ‘Irrfan: Dialogues with the Wind’.

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(This article is from The Quint's archives and is being republished on Irrfan Khan's death anniversary.)