April 29, 2026, marked the sixth death anniversary of Irrfan Khan. On this occasion, a screening of A Story That Refused To Die was held at Mumbai's Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre. The 47-minute-long documentary threw light on the making of Irrfan's acclaimed film, Paan Singh Tomar (2012). After the screening, noted journalist Saurabh Dwivedi had a conversation with Paan Singh Tomar's director, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Irrfan's other close filmmaker friend, Vishal Bhardwaj. Vishal opened up about films he wanted to make with Irrfan that never materialized.
The first one the director mentioned was an adaptation of the book ‘Tirichh’. Vishal Bhardwaj said, “Tirichh is a beautiful story and it was Irrfan who introduced me to it. He also got the author Uday Prakash ji to my office. We were like, ‘Kuch bhi karke aur kaise bhi karko humko Tirichh banani hai’. We always used to tell each other, ‘Let’s work on so-and-so film and our next would be Tirichh’. Alas, we could never make it.”
He then discussed the next unrealized project, “Dream Sequence was a love story and Irrfan was to play a singer. It was his desire to essay the role of a singer.” Tigmanshu Dhulia added, “Irrfan ko gaana gaane ke aur dance karne ka bahut mann tha!”
Vishal Bhardwaj smiled as he continued, “Irrfan had found a video somewhere of a Persian girl who could be seen beautifully playing an instrument. Her presence was electrifying. He showed me the video and said, ‘See, this is how I’ll essay the role and play this instrument’. Woh film bhi nahin ban paayi.”
When asked about the film that he wanted to make with Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone, Vishal Bhardwaj revealed, “That’s the film which I just made – O'Romeo (2026). So, at one point, Irrfan and Deepika were supposed to play the lead parts in that film.”
Vishal Bhardwaj also revealed, “I used to share my scripts with Irrfan, regardless of whether or not he was acting in that film. He had read Omkara’s (2006) script and told me, ‘Tum Saif se role karwa rahe ho lekin woh apne baal katwa lega wohi bahut badi baat hogi. I should be doing this part’. But by then, Saif was already locked. I am sure had Irrfan essayed that role, toh woh kuch aur hi hota.”
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