Deepika Padukone Thought Irrfan Khan Would Look Down Upon Her During Piku: 'I Thought He'd Be Stern'

When Irrfan Khan was on screen, everyone watched him closely. Even his fellow actors might have felt a bit nervous around him in real life. He was a big deal in India and internationally. One of his best roles was in the 2015 movie Piku, where he acted alongside Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan. Despite all three being famous, Deepika was worried Irrfan might judge her for being a mainstream actor.

In Piku, Deepika played the main character who goes on a road trip with her dad, played by Amitabh Bachchan, with Irrfan as their cab driver. The movie was loved for its humour, and all three actors gave their very best. In an interview, Deepika said she thought Irrfan would be intense, like the media portrayed him. “I thought he would be an intense actor, an intense person, everything about him is intense, courtesy media’s perception. I thought he would be stern and not interact and look down upon me for being a commercial heroine. But he is very different from that,” she had told PTI.

She called him “humourous” and “shy,” saying, “He talks less but when he says, it is very funny. I think his comic timing is pretty untapped. And no amount of explanation can give justice to the fine talent that he is.”

In a book by Shubhra Gupta called Irrfan: A Life in Movies, director Shoojit Sircar revealed that Irrfan expected Piku to be a love story because Deepika was in it. He also shared how important it was for Irrfan to land the role, as it was a big moment for him since a top actress had agreed to work with him. Sircar added, “That helped them bond, because Deepika was scared that she was going to work with Irrfan.”

Irrfan passed away on April 29, 2020, in Mumbai after a battle against cancer. He was 53.