‘Film industry is fast evolving’

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He is a character-acting veteran — admired and successful, both in Bollywood and Hollywood. Tall, lean and chiselled Irrfan Khan is making a comeback on the small screen with the reality show Emergency Room. The show that will be aired on National Geographic channel soon, will see the actor playing the host.
“Emergency Room revolves around real life experiences of people who deal with medical emergencies. I will be anchoring the show and would like to create awareness among the viewers about what happens inside an emergency ward of a hospital. This show brings forth the point that a little sensitivity can save lives,” he shares.
The actor dismisses speculations that Emergency Room is the desi version of the popular American medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. Irrfan says, “While the former is based on real-life situations and has no actors, no drama and no script; the latter is a scripted show and manages to engage audience with its focus on sex and relationships.”
His film The Lunchbox is scheduled to be released in India later in the year by UTV Motion Pictures. “The film directed by Ritesh Batra is a sweet and sensitive love story, with a simple narrative. The strength of the film is that it says so much without talking. It is about a wrongly delivered lunchbox that connects a young Hindu homemaker to a Catholic man. Though Ritesh is a first-time director and had only tried his hand at short films, I had full faith in him and agreed to work with him, and it was a great experience,” reveals the actor.
He adds, “I want to do a trilogy in romantic films. The Lunchbox is going to be the first of the series. I am hoping for good response from the Indian audience.”
Irrfan is also working on Aditya Chopra’s home production Gunday, a romantic thriller, starring Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, but is tight-lipped about the project. In his latest film D-Day he was seen playing an Indian spy in Pakistan seeking justice for the 1993 Mumbai bombings.
Khan was also seen sharing his experiences in the Hollywood and Indian film industries with his special friend and director Asif Kapadia at the recently concluded London Indian Film Festival.
Talking about the festival Irrfan concludes by saying, “LIFF is one of the biggest festivals of independent Indian cinema in Europe, presenting a diverse range of films from the sub-continent, as well as live events. The Indian film industry is evolving at a fast pace. The audience is responding well to independent cinema, which is trying to find a universal language. ”