EXCLUSIVE: Sutapa Sikdar on her inter-religion marriage with Irrfan Khan: My mom asked me, ‘Are you really marrying a Muslim?’

Late actor Irrfan Khan passed away in April 2020 after a long battle with a neuroendocrine tumour. He left behind a devastated wife and film producer Sutapa Sikdar and two sons Babil and Ayan. Sutapa stood firm beside her husband during those trying times and their love story is also unlike any other.

Joining us for season 3 of Her Story, Irrfan Khan’s wife Sutapa Sikdar in conversation with Nayandeep Rakshit revealed all about the time she first met Irrfan Khan,  their marriage and more.

Irrfan Khan’s wife Sutapa said, “I truly believe we were meant to meet and that is how I feel that I met Irrfan. We had no common friends no connections, he is from Jaipur a Muslim and I was from Delhi protected Bengali, rebel everything together. Also we were really very different. I was not supposed to go to NSD, Irrfan wanted to be an actor. I just feel that destiny sometimes paves the way for people to meet and I had to meet Irrfan and I do feel that we have a connection from many births. It’s just that in this birth we met as friends as husband and wife and we are going to meet again.”

 

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Speaking about her first meeting with Irrfan Khan Sutapa Sikdar said, “In those times in NSD we had two sets of interviews, first you give a written interview and then if you are shortlisted you are called for the final interview. I saw this thin lanky boy wearing black bell bottoms pants in very Mithun Chakraborty style and he put me off completely. Because I am born and brought up in Delhi so after the final interview went to see NSD, just to check how it is. There I met some seniors who were in their third year and we made friends. That day I was pretending to be a senior and ragged these people who had come. So I had ragged Irrfan. I just told him, “Oh you think you will be selected? Which place you are from? Jaipur Where is Jaipur? and more. But he was a very Sanskari boy, an extremely well-behaved, gentleman. Just after that, we sat to write the second test and he saw that she is the same girl and she is writing the exam. Then he realised the truth and hated me for it for some time.”

“As I was from Delhi my parents used to call the whole class for food and all. They all used to come to my home and everybody would have fun. But Irrfan would just sit near my brother’s cupboard full of books from the time he came to the time my mother would ask us to eat food. My parents liked him more than me and always praised him and we just became good friends, and also started sharing personal details. We never had any romantic moments but it was understood that we will be together. My father had no issues with our relationship, but My mother did have a problem, she asked me, ‘Are you really marrying a Muslim?’ On his side, as we took so long, that they were already used to it. We got married as we wanted to buy a house and we got a joint loan and that’s why we got married. This was around 1995 and we knew each other since 1987,” added Sutapa Sikdar.

Check out the entire conversation with Sutapa Sikdar here:

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Irrfan Khan’s wife Sutapa Sikdar breaks down discussing his cancer journey: I still have sleepless nights