Thursday marks the 54th birth anniversary of Irrfan Khan, and filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, who was a close friend of the late actor, fondly recalled shooting with him for his 2015 release, Piku.

Sircar tells IANS: "On the last few days of his schedule he would say, 'dada can't we go on shooting like this. I am feeling like free bird, I don't want this moment to stop. Please aap kuch bhi kara lo mujhse (you make me do anything). I can't explain this feeling. Can't we just go on and on?'"

Piku, also starring Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone, went on to become a commercial hit.

"I really miss him," Sircar concluded with a note of sadness in his voice.

Irrfan passed away on April 29 last year after suffering colon infection. He had also battled neuroendrocrine cancer and received treatment in the UK, before he came back to India in February 2020.