Legacy already concluded by my Baba himself: Babil remembers father Irrfan on death anniversary

Mumbai: Irrfan Khan’s son Babil paid tribute to his father with a heartfelt note on his first anniversary, recalling how the actor found joy in simplest of things while fighting cancer.

Irrfan lost his battle with a rare form of cancer and died in a Mumbai hospital on April 29 last year at the age of 54. He was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour in 2018.

The actor is survived by wife Sutapa and their two sons — Babil and Ayaan.

To mark the first death anniversary of the late actor, Babil shared a candid photo of Irrfan from when he was going through chemotherapy.

In the photograph, the actor is seen building a table. Babil also shared a hand-written note by the actor himself about his time spent in London, while undergoing treatment.

Recalling the intense chemotherapy sessions Irrfan underwent to fight cancer, Babil said his father found joy in the simplest of things.

”Chemo burns you from the inside, so to find joy in the simple things, like building your own table to write your own journals. There is a purity, I have not yet discovered,” he said.

Talking about the legacy of Irrfan, considered one of the greatest actors in Indian cinema, Babil said that no one can ever replace him.

”…There is a legacy that has already been concluded by my Baba himself. A full stop. Nobody can ever replace him. Nobody will ever be able to.

”To the greatest best friend, companion, brother, father, I ever had and ever will have. I love you so much, for the rest of this chaos we are choosing to call life,” he added.

Babil said he misses his father dearly and would have built a space monument for him where the two of them could have been together exploring mysteries.

“…it could have taken us to the furthest parts of a blackhole singularity you were always intrigued by, but I would have been there with you Baba, and we could have gone together, hand in hand. (Exploring the last mysteries),” he added.

Sharing the handwritten note by Irrfan, penned while he was in London in 2018 for his treatment, Babil described it as ‘My Baba, last stages of evolution.’ ”Reality of being NOW. The most amazing period of life in London 25 Jan 2018. The period of realisation of inner mechanism and the experience of magic which lays on the other side of the conditioned mind. The world of sensations and clear unbound mind,” the note read.