Irfan makes big leap with Warrior

‘‘Things are getting better,’’ says Khan. ‘‘Earlier, audiences here didn’t know my name, or couldn’t put a face to it. That is the reason I started doing commercial films.’’

Despite doing just the odd role in Hindi films, Khan has slipped into the international arena that Victor Banerjee, Om Puri, Gulshan Grover, Naseeruddin Shah and Saeed Jaffrey inhabit.

He has just finished shooting in Hampi for a Chicago production. Scripted by Stanley Richard and directed by Tamil director Shyam Prasad, Khan plays a man who becomes a tiger while searching for immortality, in Bokshu — The Myth. Khan was also offered the role that Naseeruddin Shah bagged against Sean Connery in A League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. And on Sunday, he just test shot for German director Florian (who incidentally won an Oscar for his short film) for a feature that should take shape by February.

‘‘I’m excited by all this international recognition, but I know that I have to come out of the Irfan makes big leap with Warrior dream world,’’ says Khan at his Goregaon flat. ‘‘This is my language, my land; I have to come back and do films here.’’

After years spent eschewing different roles in television, Khan’s name was suggested to Kapadia by director Thigmanshu Dhulia, who was casting for The Warrior. Kapadia had just been through several actors, but decided on Khan instantly when he saw his ‘‘presence’’.

It is this extraordinarily confident presence that consumes any role that Khan takes up — be it a shadow appearance in Vikram Bhatt’s Kasoor or Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay. ‘‘I’m happiest learning from a role and then performing,’’ says the man who did one of India’s first gay roles in Ashish Balram Nagpal’s unreleased Adhura so that he could explore new characters.

Khan balances both Bollywood and the international production world easily by just giving ‘‘insights into any character’’. His forthcoming roles include that of a student leader embroiled in college politics in Dhulia’s Haasil and another negative part in Shyam Ramsay’s Dhund — The Fog. ‘‘They are just two different sensibilities,’’ he says of Bollywood and international productions, ‘‘and one relies on the formula. As an actor, I like the variety. I know I will gradually get my due here if I just bring a slice of life into the part.’’

Khan had to turn down Mahesh Bhatt’s offer to direct a project to do Kapadia’s film, but the gamble has paid off. And he has thought about the doors this will open. ‘‘Even if The Warrior gets a nomination, that’s prestigious enough. Oscar nominations are always mentioned — even on the cover of DVDs. These are the scales by which an actor is judged. If that happens, I’ll take the effort to get a good US agent,’’ Khan shrugs. In the meantime, his mind is on to the next role that comes his way — be it film, television or theatre.