Gulshan Devaiah has built a career by watching actors he admires closely, then deliberately refusing to turn that study into imitation. In a new interview, he returns to the performer he calls one of his greatest influences, Irrfan Khan, and to the unexpectedly personal grief he felt when Khan died.
The conversation lands as Devaiah prepares for Little Thomas, which opens in theatres on 23 October. But the heart of his reflection is about craft: how an actor who never went to drama school assembled his own training from the screen.
The curriculum of careful watching
Devaiah said he did not attend drama school. Instead, he learned by observing accomplished performers and absorbed elements of their work both consciously and subconsciously. He named Khan as a huge influence, but drew a clear line: he never wanted to copy him, or anyone else.
The list of actors he studied without imitating is broad. He mentioned Manoj Bajpayee, Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert De Niro and Kate Winslet among the performers he watched. The goal, he said, was to draw inspiration while still developing his own style.
- He treated the screen as his classroom, not a formal institution.
- He absorbed influence “both consciously and subconsciously,” as he put it.
- He refused imitation, even of the actors he most admired.
- He used observation to build a style he could call his own.
Restraint as a form of presence
Devaiah’s analysis of Khan’s screen power is precise. Khan could hold attention while doing very little, he said, because audiences never knew what he would do next. He had unusually expressive eyes and used that gift economically. Sometimes he would deliver a line without even looking at his co-actor, an unconventional choice that made the moment feel different.
Devaiah added that Khan did not fit the conventional leading-man template. In comparison with Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan, Khan was not considered the same kind of traditionally handsome hero. Yet he drew attention anyway. That, Devaiah argued, was the magnetic attraction of an actor making distinct choices.
A loss that felt private and public
Devaiah said he had followed Khan’s work for years but did not realise how deeply attached he had become until the news of the death broke. He wept on the phone with his mother. She told him she had not known he liked Khan so much; his answer was that he had not known either.
He described Khan as a one-of-a-kind actor and said the death felt personal, “like a family member has passed away.” That intimacy is one reason Khan’s loss continues to be discussed as more than a career interruption. His performances created a particular kind of connection: the viewer felt spoken to, even in a crowded theatre.
What comes next
Devaiah’s next film, Little Thomas, is directed by Kaushal Oza. It follows a curious young boy who desperately wants a sibling, and it is scheduled to reach cinemas on 23 October. For an actor who speaks about influence with such care, it is another chance to practice the lesson he absorbed from Khan: be present, be willing to surprise, and make the moment feel personal.
Source: The Times of India
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