Irrfan Khan is no more with us. Every film and cinema lover in India is trying to cope up with the loss. It feels 'almost personal' for every movie buff. A graduate from the National School Of Drama, Irrfan Khan made the world applaud his acting chops. He made acting look so effortless. Naseeruddin Shah whom Irrfan Khan admired a lot has written a heartfelt tribute for him. It has been published in The Hindu newspaper. Naseeruddin Shah has written about various aspects of Irrfan Khan as an artiste and human being. He has recollected his first meeting with Irrfan. He has written, "Irrfan (as he insisted on spelling it), went away in the same unobtrusive and dignified manner as he had lived. Much before Maqbool was a germ of an idea in Vishal Bhardwaj's head, one day on returning home I saw Ratna sitting in my drawing room with a very slight, very mild looking person who was rehearsing with her for a TV film they were to act in together. If not for those eyes I might have taken no notice of the man, never having seen him perform but something in his quiet assurance as he rose to greet me that day stayed with me mildly respectful, not at all ingratiating, with a handshake that had a gentle firmness, all stemming from an unshakeable confidence in himself and a deep interest in others, the quality that was to define him for me always."

In the long tribute, Naseeruddin Shah has written that Irrfan Khan constantly prepped himself as an actor. He said that he was not unfazed by the failure or excessively elated at the success. He let nothing come in the way of delivering the most nuanced performances. Naseeruddin Shah has praised Irrfan as a confident actor. He writes in The Hindu, "I never detected an iota of self doubt in the man, either as an actor or as a person and his willingness to repose trust in people, not to mention the intelligence that shone through in every thing he did, coupled with an almost feral magnetism gave his persona a tenderness, a quiet menace and a unique enigma that was the envy of many less hard-working actors who attribute success to God's benevolence or inborn talent or good luck, none of which in my opinion made Irrfan what he was."