Babil left 'speechless' as Irrfan's Namesake co-star Kal Penn writes to him

Irrfan Khan's son Babil got a direct message from the actor's The Namesake co-star Kal Penn, who expressed his condolences at Irrfan’s death. Kal said that he wasn't sure how to get in touch with Irrfan’s family, but was glad that he finally could after Babil presumably reached out to him.

He wrote, "Babil, I'm so moved that you reached out and it means so much to me to hear that story. Thank you. The Namesake is the project I'm most proud of, the one that brought me the greatest artistic happiness - and getting to work with and know your father was such a big part of that. (I think I met you and your brother in Calcutta when we were filming). I've thought of you two and your mom a lot this past year and wasn't sure how to get in touch to share my love and gratitude. It really means so much to me that you reached you. Thank you! — Let me know if you're ever in New York post-pandemic. And please give my love to your mom."

Reacting to this, Babil wrote on his Instagram Stories, "What is happening? How to write a reply when you're speechless? @kalpenn."

Kal had played Gogol, son of Irrfan's character Ashoke Ganguli, in The Namesake. Directed by Mira Nair, the film featured Tabu as Irrfan's wife and Sahira Nair as his daughter. The movie was based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel of the same name and was given a thumbs up by the critics upon its release in the US.

Mira Nair had told The New York Times about how her last meeting with Irrfan was a year before his death due. She recalled, "We ate very well in a cafe. He flirted with the waitress. My friend came in on a bike and he got on the bike and he said: ‘I just need to. I need to do one block. Just one’. We had our last pictures together on this bike, and he was in full-blown treatment and yet he was in dapper linen. We have a beautiful word in Urdu — ‘shaukeen’ — which means somebody with a lot of love and indulgences and delights. He loved a lot of things, whether it be clothes or food or beauty. Or his family and how much they meant to him. He had just a clear idea of what was worth it. He’d roamed and he returned to know what was really valuable."