Actress Amrita Rao considers Nawazuddin Siddiqui and the late Irrfan Khan as the two unique actors of the Indian film industry. While she is fortunate to have acted with Nawazuddin in the film Thackeray last year, her desire to work with Irrfan will remain unfulfilled due to his untimely death.

"I have got a chance to work with some of the greatest talents in the business, whether it is SRK, Shahid, Mr (Amitabh) Bachchan but there are two actors in our film industry who are so unique and special that everyone wants to work with them. For me, they are Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Irrfan Khan. While I have worked with Nawaz sir in Thackeray, my comeback film last year, how unfortunate it is that never will I get a chance to work with Irrfan. Why did he leave us so early?" said Amrita.

She continued: "Every actor is special but there is a reason why I am saying these two actors are unique. You know, whether it is Nawaz sir and Irrfan, they are never dependent on external elements to transform themselves into a character. Their approach and style of acting are so internal that it gets translated in their performance and resonates with the audience. They do not need the props of makeup and hairdo to become the character."

Amrita lists her favourite Irrfan role. "My favorite is Piku. You know there is no prosthetic, there is no distinct body language or age in Irrfan's character Rana. Despite two favourite actors like Deepika (Padukone) and Mr (Amitabh) Bachchan, Irrfan found space in our hearts, You cannot point out why you like Rana but you do! That is the rare talent Irrfan Khan is. I know I am repeating myself but really, why he did he leave us so soon?" said Amrita, who was recently blessed with a child.

(Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in)