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Popular theatre, film and TV actor Mita Vashisht, who is known for her work in Space City Sigma, Pachpan Khambe Laal Deewarein, Swabhimaan, Alaan, and Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, among others, has been a friend of the late actor Irrfan Khan. The two, along with Irrfan’s wife, Sutapa Sikdar, studied at the National School of Drama (NSD) and began their career in theatre around the same time before venturing onto the small screen and later films. Mita, who attended Irrfan’s funeral, recalled having a premonition about Irrfan passing as the actor had been battling cancer.
In a recent interview with The Lallantop, the Ghulam actor said, “Ten days before he passed away, Irrfan and I had a long discussion in my dreams. In my dream, he said, ‘Bahot time hogaya yaar hum nahin mile (I remember him saying we haven’t met him in a long time)’. The dream almost lasted for 45 minutes and we laughed a lot.”
Mita shared that after she woke up, she felt peace within and somewhat happy. “Maine kaha, ‘yeh jaane wala hai. Shayad ek do din mein woh jane wala hai. Woh nahin rahega (I had a feeling that he will be soon gone, may be in a day or two. He won’t survive).’ I called up a friend and asked where was Irrfan, I wanted to meet him. He said that he was not meeting anyone at the time and was with his family.”
The actor, who was Sutapa’s roommate during their NSD days, also spoke about attending the Hindi Medium actor’s funeral amid lockdown and the COVID-19 outbreak. “It was amid the lockdown and my friend, Ashok (Ashok Kumar Bhagat) came to me asked me, ‘Mita, Irrfan ka funeral hai, jana hai na? (Mita, we have to attend Irrfan’s funeral)” Maine kaha ‘of course jana hai’ (I replied, ‘of course, we have to go) Hum log pura dhak ke gaye (we were all masked). It was the first phase of the lockdown,” she recalled.
She further reminisced that there was media present during Irrfan’s funeral but she didn’t show her face to the camera, however, there were others who tried to take advantage of the late actor’s popularity. “We told the guard at the cemetery that we were his batchmates and they should let us in. Irrfan had become a big star by that point that even those who had nothing to do with him, were showing their faces and the media went crazy,” she shared.
Mita and Ashok stood in the sun for two hours waiting to get an entry into the cemetery. “We are making phone calls so that they would allow us inside. They didn’t let me in as women were not allowed inside. I stood outside near the barricade. Later, finally, I saw them bringing his mortal remains and so I bid him my final goodbye but suddenly, they came back and walked past me. The procession was so close to me. I laughed and told myself, “Dekh, aayaga bye bolne (see you came to say goodbye to me).”
Irrfan passed away on April 29, 2020, after a long battle with cancer. Irrfan was admitted to the ICU on April 28 following a colon infection. However, the actor’s health deteriorated, and he breathed his last on the day.
Earlier in an interview with The Indian Express, Mita recalled Irrfan from his NSD days, calling him an “occasional imp”. “He had this shy mischief about him and used to relentlessly pull my leg and, since I had long hair, give my plaits a tug or two. There was a seriousness about him that’s well known but he also had a sense of mischief which we see in his roles,” said Mita.
Mita and Irrfan were classmates for three years, living together 24×7, travelling on an “educational trip to Manipur, eating, brushing our teeth and fighting with each other” “It was almost like a blood relationship. A part of us has died,” she added.
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