‘Irrfan Khan. The intensity. The responsibility of the intensity. The silent righteousness of the responsibility. The eloquent eyes of his silent righteousness. If I were to present an actor whose mere appearance could speak its mind with sophisticated elegance, I’d instantly point to Irrfan Khan.’

Amitabh Bachchan

‘Anup Singh has exorcised us of the male psychoses of the hunter—to give imaging a new life by a deep existential bonding with his actor, with nature in all its glory, its violence, its awesome munificence. Splendid!’

Kumar Shahani

‘I cried, I laughed, but most importantly, I felt held as I turned the pages of this book. Held by the extraordinary kinship of two wonderful men. The universe feels full of possibilities. Yes, there is cinema, but the protagonist is Life. It’s an invitation to live and to die with a certain joy. I am certain this book will provide joy and solace to all who love Irrfan.’

Tillotama Shome

‘This book is a many-splendored thing—a record of Irrfan and Anup Singh’s enduring friendship, a perspective on the artistry of the actor and an insight into the magic of movie-making.’

Anupama Chopra

‘Few would have known Irrfan, the actor and the man, as well as filmmaker Anup Singh, who worked with him through two seminal films—Qissa and The Song of Scorpions. And no one could have brought Irrfan alive in the intuitive way that Anup Singh does, with his achingly poetic and overwhelmingly cinematic book. With his vivid memories, detailed reminiscences, elaborate conversations, delicate affection and astute observations, he intertwines the personal with the professional, the past with the present, in an elegant, stream-of-consciousness narrative. With their travels through the making of the two films and the wanderings in life together, Anup takes us on a journey into Irrfan’s heart, mind and soul.’

Namrata Joshi

‘Dreamy, immersive, and deeply magnetic, this book is a mythic beast. Demons and dervishes haunt Anup Singh’s memories of Irrfan and tell us the story of an actor’s possession of a body he thrummed like a living musical instrument. The prose transports us to the soul of power and beauty that made Irrfan’s life on screen deeply sensory and surreally spiritual at the same time.’

Saikat Majumdar

‘Irrfan: Dialogues with the Wind is a spellbinding reconstruction of a beautiful, delicate and affectionate relationship—an ode to friendship. Reading it made me feel as if I were quietly witnessing the evolving dynamics of a very genuine, organic connection. Coming from a place of purity, the book is as joyful as it is melancholy, a portrait of a man so consumed by the love for his craft that it puts into context the greatness of his performances. It opens a window into the rich and meditative inner world of Irrfan, a space so rarefied and reserved that it must have been a privilege to work so intimately with him and glean his insights about love and life.’

Ankur Pathak