Constant comparisons to one’s successful parents can be exhausting, especially for star kids. Not for Babil Khan though. He doesn’t mind being in the shadows of his father, Irrfan, a tad bit longer. That is why, he breaks into a big smile when his performances are deemed reminiscent of the late actor’s.
“Being around an energy like my father for 22 years has rubbed off on me, even if I did not consciously absorb it,” says the 25-year-old actor, whose latest project is a high-school comedy, Friday Night Plan.
In the Netflix film, he plays the nerdy strait-laced teenager, Sid Menon, whose focus is to get into a good college. In this pursuit, he has to navigate some slippery situations. Directed by Vatsal Neelakantan, the film was released on September 1, and also stars Juhi Chawla.
Sharing how he prepped for the role, Babil says he has a new process for every character. “If you become too rigid in your approach, then you falter. I don’t get inside a character, but seek it inside of me,” he elaborates, adding, “For example, as a person, I am boisterous, but Sid is an introvert. Despite the differences, I found myself responding to him and his insecurities.”
Babil grew up knowing that his parents’ connections (mother Sutapa Sikdar is a film writer and producer) in the industry were not for him to use. “That I will be launched by them was never even a distant thought,” he says, adding, “I was told, ‘if you want to act, go for auditions, understand acting, and take the proper route’.” That is how he landed his debut film, Anvita Dutta’s Qala, last year.
Emulating Irrfan’s skills as a performer is something Babil has been working at, but it is also the late actor’s handling of fame he hopes to imbibe. “My father wanted to be a star, but never by formula. He did not want to be a slave to his stardom,” says the young actor. To that end, he admits he has to now start “strategising” his career. “For Qala and Friday Night Plan, I simply auditioned and got selected. But, you cannot always go with the flow. Now I have to think about the kind of roles I want to play. This is where strategic thinking becomes necessary,” he says.
Besides acting, Babil has also been making an impression with his sartorial choices. It is not unusual to spot him in bright-coloured baggy suits, sometimes accompanied by an embroidered stole and at other times a hat. Fashion, for him, is just another expression of individuality. “My choices, I think, have been deeply influenced by my mother, who has an inherent sense of style. She can transform a curtain into a shirt, a bedsheet into a pair of trousers, and a watch into a choker. I have always been experimental, even in school, but it was only later when my father started copying my style that I figured I was doing something right,” he says.
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