Following a decades-long career as a star in both Hollywood and Bollywood films, Indian actor Irrfan Khan
has died from complications relating to a cancer diagnosis he received back in early 2018. He was just 53 years old. Film fans will know Khan from his role in the movie adaptation of Canadian author Yann Martel’s
The Life of Pi, in which he played the grown up version of the film’s titular character, Piscine Molitor Patel.He also had roles in Hollywood blockbusters like
The Amazing Spiderman and the 2015 franchise reboot,
Jurassic World in which he played the CEO and owner of the doomed dino-themed park. Khan, also, was no stranger to the indie film world, signing on for projects like Wes Anderson’s
The Darjeeling Limited and Michael Winterbottom’s
A Mighty Heart.In director Danny Boyle’s
Slumdog Millionaire, Khan did his part to introduce a larger Western audience to the traditions and tropes inherent in a classic Bollywood musical. That’s where the actor got his start, making movies and television series in the country’s film mecca of Mumbai, starring in 1988 in the Oscar nominated film by Mira Nair,
Salaam Bombay! His films
The Lunchbox (a sweet and moving romance from director Ritesh Batra) and
Talvar (a drama based on the real life murder of a teen girl in Noida, India) both screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.TIFF’s artistic director, Cameron Bailey, expressed his sadness over the loss of Khan earlier this morning on Twitter.
Khad died yesterday in Mumbai following an infection that sent him to hospital early on in the week. The actor had been suffering from a rare high-grade neuroendocrine cancer for which he’d been receiving treatment for the last two years.
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