It all began with a call out of the blue. “And you know what?” says Irfan Khan. “All of the films that have meant a lot to me, like A Mighty Heart which means an awful lot to me, came the same way. And I’m very, very grateful.”

The call was from director Michael Winterbottom asking if he could meet with the actor – now rightly regarded as one of India’s finest – to discuss playing a “strong man” in a film he was about to embark on.

Khan, as he usually is, was busy filming, but was very keen to meet with the highly regarded English director and understandably intrigued. When they finally did sit down for that chat, he was hooked immediately.

A Mighty Heart is based on Mariane Pearl’s book of the same name and tells the story of how she met and fell in love with the journalist Daniel Pearl and of his kidnapping whilst researching a story on the shoe bomber Richard Reid in Karachi in 2002.

Mariane, played by Angelina Jolie, who is also a journalist, immediately suspected that her husband had been abducted when he failed to return home after an appointment with a shadowy contact. She began to retrace his steps at the same time as alerting the authorities, both Pakistani and American, who desperately tried to track down the terrorists holding Daniel.

Khan plays a Pakistani intelligence officer known only as Captain, a strong, dedicated investigator who was right at the heart of the search for Daniel.

The actor had hoped to meet the real Captain before starting filming, but sadly, it was not to be. “No, unfortunately I couldn’t,” he says. “They were trying to fix a meeting and I had told them it was necessary for me to meet him.

“And they tried but they couldn’t arrange it and instead they fixed a phone call from Pakistan to India and because the two countries don’t have a very easy relationship – and him being in the secret service – it was a tricky situation for him. And we talked for a bit but it was almost like I could feel him being uncomfortable with the situation.”

He did meet intelligence officers who were involved in other terrorist cases and, as he points out, had the valuable resource of Mariane’s book to draw upon.

A Mighty Heart is a testament to an honourable man, Daniel Pearl. whose life was ended in the most tragic, unnecessary way. Khan also hopes that it will deliver a positive message too – that people from different backgrounds and religions, can work together, the way that the multi national team assembled to try and find Daniel did.

“I hope that people will see that here was a group of people, from different parts of the world, who all got together for the right cause.,” he says. “And it didn’t matter from which religion they came from, from what country they came from.

“And I hope that this message comes across and I hope that Mariane’s way of looking at tragedy comes across, her concern about ignorance and about violence and about people being influenced and misused again and again because of misery and of ignorance.”

Khan is a graduate of the National School of Drama in New Delhi where, in his final year, he was spotted by director Mira Nair who cast him in Salaam Bombay! Even though most of his scenes were cut, the two remained friends and recently Nair cast him as the lead in The Namesake.

Khan is one of India’s biggest stars and has gained an international reputation as one of the finest actors working today. His other credits include Maqbool, Hassil, and playing the lead in the BAFTA winning The Warrior. He recently filmed The Darjeeling Limited for director Wes Anderson.

This interview was conducted during the Cannes Film Festival where A Mighty Heart was given its world premier.

Q: How did this project start for you?

A: It was very simple. All of the films that have meant a lot to me – like Warrior or The Namesake and A Mighty Heart which means an awful lot to me – all came the same way, just like that. I’m very grateful. They just called me and I didn’t have to audition, which I’m happy about, because in India we don’t do auditions. So for this film I had a call and they said ‘there’s a director who wants to meet you..’ but I was filming so I said I couldn’t meet him for a month. And then they told me it was Michael Winterbottom and he’s coming back to meet me in a month so I said ‘fantastic.’

Q: Did you know at that point what the film was about?

A: No, it was just a meeting. Somebody gave me a hint that the story was based in Pakistan and that the role was a very strong person. I sent them some photographs and I don’t know whether they made up their mind from the photograph or by watching a trailer of The Namesake, I really don’t know. But I had a great meeting with Michael and he told me about the story and then I read Mariane’s book and that completely grabbed me. The way that she dealt with this crisis was incredible. I read the book first when they were still working on the script and that was enough for me.

Q: What were your initial thoughts about it?

A: I thought it was a very, very important film in terms of a story that should be told, it should be told to everybody – Mariane’s way of looking at things, her way of looking at the tragedy, it should become contagious you know. I feel that as an actor, if I could do these kinds of stories that can, possibly, change things somewhere, then I’m doing my job. I’m giving back something to the world because it cannot be one way – I cannot keep consuming and doing things just for entertainment.

Q: Did you meet your character, Captain?

A: No, unfortunately I couldn’t. They were trying to fix a meeting and I had told them it was necessary for me to meet him. And they tried but they couldn’t arrange it and instead they fixed a phone call from Pakistan to India and because the two countries don’t have a very easy relationship – and him being in the secret service – it was a tricky situation for him. And we talked for a bit but it was almost like I could feel him being uncomfortable with the situation. And the line was not clear, I was trying to tape it and nothing really happened. I was trying very hard to listen to what he was saying and it’s a very uncomfortable situation to talk to somebody who is in the secret service and I’m aware of this fact and my mind is saying ‘don’t ask too many hard questions.’ although I had a lot of questions after reading the book, so many queries as to what happened, how much did he know, but it’s impossible for him to say. So I couldn’t meet him and I relied on the book and whatever Mariane’s version was about Captain. Obviously I would have like to have heard Captain’s version of the story, from his perspective. And I would have liked to have seen him, seen what he is, it doesn’t mean I would have incorporated his version but I would have seen the man inside and got what his take was about everything and how he goes about investigating a case. And then I met some people in India who are involved in these sorts of cases and that was helpful, but mostly I relied on the book and my instinct.

Q: Did you meet Mariane?

A: No I couldn’t. I was supposed to meet her in Paris but then the schedule was such that I couldn’t do it. I went to London and we had a little workshop for accents because as a Pakistani man he has a different accent, different inflections to me and that’s important because it does make you feel calm when you hear him. He does have authority when he speaks. So that was important for me, to acquire that calmness so that when he speaks people should feel at ease and trust him.

Q: Where did you film the majority of your scenes?

A: In India. We had a house in Poona. They choose a house where they had to do a lot of security things because of the media.

Q: Because or Brad Pitt and Angelina? Or for you as well?

A: For them. I think they are much bigger stars than us. I never imagined that it would be such a maddening rush with the paparazzi and it became difficult for me to relate to Angelina as a character because of the newspapers, you know. I was supposed to arrive two weeks after they started shooting and it was in the newspapers every day. I was supposed to interact with her as a character so it started polluting my mind, she is such a big celebrity, she is this, she is that, so I stopped reading the newspapers because I never wanted to get influenced by their version.

Q: So you actually met for the first time doing a scene?

A: Yes. Right up until we started shooting I wasn’t introduced to her and I think it shows in the takes. She said to Michael ‘why aren’t we being introduced? Is it for the reality of the moment?’ And then we met.

Q: Tell me how Michael WInterbottom is different from the other directors you’ve worked with.

A: Because he doesn’t direct you, he trusts you completely once he has done the casting. He has a very keen eye about the person and he is looking for the elements he needs for them to find the character. So half of his work is done in the casting and during the shoot, because he shoots with a DV camera, there’s no time restriction, you can go on improvising things. And he allows you to improvise a lot.

Q: Did you like working that way?

A: I loved it. Actors depend on lines, you know, they depend on what is there in the script. But there is no safety net.

Q: Isn’t that scary?

A: It was liberating, actually. Because that’s where you start connecting to the situation and the character because you have to be on your toes all the time.

Q: What do you hope that people will take from the film?

A: I hope that people will see that here was a group of people, from different parts of the world, who all got together for the right cause. And it didn’t matter from which religion they came from, from what country they came from. And I hope that this message comes across and I hope that Mariane’s way of looking at tragedy comes across, her concern about ignorance and about violence and about people being influenced and misused again and again because of misery and of ignorance. I hope people could have the space to understand different religions and different customs. I wish we could allow ourselves to see good things in different religions because every religion has noble things. But because of ignorance, because of fear, territorial conflicts, political conflicts, religion is being used again and again and it’s not going to do good to human society.

Q: Let’s talk a little more about Captain. He was crucial to the investigation into Daniel’s kidnapping wasn’t’ he?

A: Yes. And his anti terrorist department had just been formed at that time and they didn’t have a lot of resources, like they didn’t even have a printer – there’s a scene in the film where he has to ask Asra (Archie Panjabi) to print the e-mails for him – and they didn’t have mobile phones. So it was under resourced but Captain is obviously a first rate investigator.

For me the most difficult part was to be on the edge all the time – he is doing his own job but he is actually against the system that doesn’t want him to do it. And then there is the FBI which has its own angle.

Q: So he’s caught between these people with different agendas?

A: Yes. And there is concern about his own community, his own religion and what image this incident is giving to the world. He is concerned about all of that and he is walking a tightrope in many respects. I remember reading when Colin Powell came to Pakistan and he said to Randall Bennett ‘please ask Captain to take some rest..’ So I could feel the intensity that he has and I hope that comes across.

Q: How did you get into acting?

A: It’s a strange thing because nobody from my family or community was particularly involved in acting. I was a very shy guy and I think that the impression people had about me was something I wanted to change. I dallied with business for a while but I knew that I wanted to do something else. And then I watched certain films at a time when there was some actors involved in what became known as parallel cinema and they were doing completely new things. I was maybe 15 and I was fascinated by it, they were experiencing something completely beyond their own personalities. And I wanted to do that. I searched for a school where I could learn and there was a place in Delhi where all these actors were coming from so I went there. My parents didn’t really approve, they wanted me to do something like become a teacher or doctor, what the middle classes consider ‘honourable.’ I said to them that I would become a drama teacher but I knew I wouldn’t do that, but it kept them happy. I was so eager, so desperate to get into the drama school I even lied to them – you are supposed to do 10 plays before you can qualify for a place, but I had only done 4 or 5, but I said ‘yes, I’ve done 10..’ I had to do it. At that time my mental state was such that if I didn’t get in I would have gone mad. Because for me the life I was leading was finished, it was so boring, so repetitive, doing the same thing again and again and I wanted to do something where I would connect. So I went to the drama school and things started happening after that.

Q: Did it start happening quite quickly?

A: Immediately. I was 22 when I came out. When I was in my third year Mira Nair came to the college and saw my diploma performance. She was doing Salaam Bombay! And she saw my performance and took me for a role which in the end, didn’t make the final cut. Because of my height the framing was odd and I was meant to be one of the street kids who were smaller. So that was my first break and my first setback (laughs). So life was there to teach me that everything is not always rosy.

Q: You’ve worked with Mira Nair again, more recently, on The Namesake. Had you stayed in contact over the years?

A: Not really, but we bumped into each other occasionally, at festivals, or something. Suddenly I get a phone call from her assistant in America who says that Mira wanted me to play Ashoke in The Namesake. And coincidentally I’d just read Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel (on which the film is based) a couple of weeks earlier. What a coincidence. And when I spoke to Mira she said ‘Irrfan, I owed you a role. Now we’re all square. I’ve paid my debts.’ And I said to her ‘is this film going to change my life?’ and she said ‘don’t put that much of a burden on me!’ And that film became very special for me.

Q: Things are going well for you. What do you hope for the future?

A: I wish I could work in different countries. Every country has their own sensibility when it comes to film and it’s always good to interact with people who have a different kind of outlook. My life changed when I did Warrior. I was tired at the time because I had been doing a lot of television and I was finding it very restricting, I was even thinking about leaving acting because it was so boring. The Warrior came at the right time and it changed my perception altogether and I regained my interest in acting. It just intoxicated me when I saw the film.

Q: Are you a family man?

A: I have two kids, one is four and the other is 9, both boys. I think it’s the most precious thing in the world to have children. I miss them all the time when we’re apart.

Source: Paramount Pictures