5 years after his death, Irrfan Khan comes alive through FTII’s rare diploma films from the 1980s

These films have been restored, and shared with the world, thanks to FTII’s new digital outreach initiative under the National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM), backed by the National Film Archive of India (NFIA). Incidentally, this development comes close to the fifth death anniversary of Irrfan Khan, who passed away at the age of 53 on April 29, 2020, after a prolonged battle with cancer.

According to Aparna Subramanian, film research officer at FTII, the discovery of these films was almost accidental.

“This particular set of student films was found on a hard drive, likely archived after a screening event in early 2024. There was not a formal plan to curate them. It happened organically once we saw Irrfan in all six,” she said.

The result is a moving time capsule: raw, unpolished, and honest. These films show Irrfan before he was a star, before Maqbool (2004), before The Namesake (2006), and before The Lunchbox (2013). Yet, even in those early roles, his quiet intensity was unmistakable.

A still from the movie Reconnaissance where Irrfan Khan plays a man adrift in his own mind, teetering between the illusion of love and the desire to escape. (Express photo)

Explaining how Irrfan got those roles, Sandeep Chatterjee, head of department, direction and screenplay writing at FTII, said, “Irrfan Khan passed out from National School of Drama (NSD), but a year before that,  he featured in these diploma films of the institute.”

“Earlier there was this tradition of NSD students coming to FTII and having a sort of cinema orientation. Also, people come through common friends, and a lot of NSD and FTII students hang out with each other to explore opportunities in an Informal way. That was how he got the roles in these movies.” added Chatterjee.

“These films, however, remained largely under the radar, their existence barely known to the outside world,” said FTII director Dhiraj Singh.

The rediscovery of these works has sparked immense excitement among film enthusiasts and cinephiles alike in finding out more about the nascent stages of Irrfan’s acting career in the 1980s. These films can offer rare insights into his raw, early performances before he became the celebrated actor.

Subramanian, part of the team responsible for uncovering these hidden gems, explained how the process unfolded.

“Our director recently decided to engage more actively with audiences through online platforms like YouTube. That was when we stumbled upon these films on one of our hard drives. They were likely archived after a screening event hosted by NFAI in February 2024.”

“There was not a specific reason for choosing these six films beyond that Irrfan featured in all of them,” Subramanian added.

A legacy that lives on

Chatterjee, also the director of one of the six films featuring Irrfan Khan, named Reconnaissance, said, “For those who knew Irrfan or admired him from afar, this digital retrospective is more than just a nostalgic throwback. It is a revelation.”

“Even after the shifts in Indian cinema post-globalisation, Irrfan remained rooted—unaffected, deeply emotional. These student films show where it all started. He was not performing for fame. He was exploring the craft. And you see that in every frame,” he added.

A still from A Briefcase Full Of Reflexive Maladies. (Express photo)

Subramanian said by putting these films online, they not only want to make them “accessible” but also give them an “afterlife”.

“Because even with the best archiving practices, physical formats can get lost. But as they say, nothing dies on the internet,” said Singh.

The 6 Irrfan Khan films

You Can’t Give Any Reason is a haunting portrait of how power quietly distorts everyday life.

In Reconnaissance, Irrfan Khan plays a man adrift in his own mind, teetering between the illusion of love and the desire to escape.

Morning delivers a piercing critique of class and childhood through the eyes of a girl forced to grow up too soon.

A Briefcase Full of Reflexive Maladies is the most abstract of the bunchan atmospheric meditation on how silence and money can quietly sculpt a relationship, all without a single explicit line.

Veg Non Veg plunges into a gritty world of crime and fragile bonds, where violence and vulnerability constantly brush up against each other. Irrfan’s role is brief, but his impact lingers.

And then there is Manoeuvre, a slow-burning psychological horror that creeps in like a forgotten memory clawing its way back. Eerie, restrained, and deeply unsettling.

All these short films are now streaming on FTII’s official YouTube channel.

– Riddhi Wadhwani is an intern with The Indian Express