Some films are meant to run that extra mile to go beyond being a mere cinematic experience. As we see names of real-life athletes, who died unsung, flash across the screen at the end of Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Paan Singh Tomar we realize what we’ve just witnessed in the past 190 minutes of taut playing-time is not just film. It’s a treatise on what destiny has in store for people who do not conform to socially-acceptable definitions of success.
Indeed Irrfan Khan as Paan Singh Tomar embodies that criminal neglect of all athletes in our country barring cricketers who, as we all know by now, are grossly overrated sportspersons. Tomar was a steeplechase runner. Not that it made any difference to his destiny. In the army for the long innings Tomar, we are told, took voluntary retirement to look after his family and land in his native village.
The two lives of Paan Singh Tomar, in the army as a celebrated sportsperson and as an outlaw on the run in the Chambal valley (not on a horse, please!) are brought together in a stirring, unexpectedly involving blend of the brilliant and the haunting.
Playing the outlawed athlete Paan Singh Tomar, Irrfan gave what most Irrfan-o-philes feel to be his best performance. The nuances that he brought to the performance, the graph that he created for the character from national pride to personal shame was exemplary.
Irrfan Khan was elated by the belated National award for Best Actor for his performance in Paan Singh Tomar. It was the first National Award in the actor’s distinguished career.
Said Irrfan in a past conversation, “I thought I should have got it for Haasil which was my first film with Tigmanshu Dhulia. Then I thought I’d get it for Mira Nair’s The Namesake. So it has been a fairly lengthy time-span of disappointments.”
More than himself, Irrfan was pleased for his director and for the people who wanted him to get nationally honoured for PST. “I hosted a party along with two other National Award winners Nikhil Advani and Shankar Mahadevan. Tigmanshu couldn’t celebrate with me as he was shooting in Lucknow. So I went to Lucknow to party with him. More than myself I am happy for Tigmanshu.”
Irrfan revealed that he noticed an unusual public participation in the collective desire that he win. “I was amazed at how passionately people wanted me to get the National Award for Paan Singh Tomar. It was almost like a public campaign. Everyone took it personally. And somewhere when I got the honour they were relieved more than overjoyed. If I had not won it I think people would have seen it as another indication of the imminent collapse of the ‘system’. In my victory they feel vindicated.”
Irrfan was happy to share the National Award for Best Actor with Vikram Gokhale. “In fact the actress Usha Jadhav who won the National Award for Best Actress, messaged to say how honoured she was to be part of the awards with me. I feel the National Awards are important, as they still have a credibility denied to many of the popular awards. I feel getting a National Award is prestigious.”
