Irrfan’s last film The Song of Scorpions to release, director Anup Singh says actor was sad it didn’t earlier

Irrfan’s last film (as an actor) The Song of Scorpions, is set to release finally in India. It’s been a very long wait, and the leading man isn’t around to watch it. But director Anup Singh, talking to us from Switzerland, is ecstatic that his actor’s film has found a way home.

“This is unimaginable, Irrfan is not with us. I am sure that he, in spirits, would be very happy to see the film getting the kind of release in India, that it is,” he says.

Also starring yesteryear actor Waheeda Rahman, The Song of Scorpions was completed in 2017, and then did the rounds of film festivals for a year. It released in Europe in 2019, and the plans for an Indian release had to be stalled after the pandemic hit the world. Singh adds, “It affected many films. Obviously, ours is not a Masala film. Theatres were closed for quite a while and people were not going to the cinemas. At this moment, now, it seems that more and more people are ready to go to cinemas to see films. I am very grateful to my distributors in India. They have worked very hard, they stayed with the film for three years.”

What about Irrfan? What was his reaction when the film couldn’t manage an India release then? The director shares, “Irrfan had seen the release of the film in Europe, and we got really good feedback. That made him very happy. It was his deepest desire that the film be released in India, especially when he started becoming sick. He really wanted it to be released. I think he was quite sad that it didn’t release that time. But he understood that Covid had made it impossible.”