'He was in a lot of pain': Angrezi Medium's costume designer recalls Irrfan Khan's health deteriorating on set

In a recent interview, costume designer Smriti Chauhan detailed how the actor's health declined during filming his last movie and how he was in excruciating pain. During an appearance on the Unfolding Talents (UT) Digital Commentary channel on YouTube, Smriti stated, "He was in a lot of pain when we were shooting Angrezi Medium."

She further went on to share, "He only told me one thing, ‘Smriti, I get very cold’, so he told me about this one brand in London, and he said that please get me warmers from there and I said sure. During the shoot of the film also he kept shrinking. We had to add a lot of padding to his clothes in that phase. Even though we gave him a lot of layers, we still had to add a lot of padding."

On Irrfan Khan wearing padded costumes

She then shared, "In the film, we gave him a vest to wear for all the summer sequences, and even that had padding. He was ailing. His family was around him most of the time and sometimes, during the shoot, he would take a break because he was not able to cope with it… There have been days on Angrezi Medium when we couldn’t shoot because he couldn’t reach the set despite trying. He was in that much pain and I think he believed that this is what I live for and I, probably want to just die doing this and I think he did that," she concluded.

Angrezi Medium, which was directed by Homi Adajania, also starred Ranvir Shorey, Deepak Dobriyal, Kareena Kapoor, and Radhika Madan. The movie is a follow-up to the Hindi Medium movie from 2017.