Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; April 26, 2017)

One rarely associates song and dance with Irrfan, better known as a powerhouse performer. But for his upcoming film, Hindi Medium, the actor has done a special song, Ek Jindari, with 50-odd kids for the climax sequence. The kids, however, aren’t any ordinary kids; they belong to Delhi’s Katputli Colony, touted as the world’s largest community of street performers, including magicians, acrobats and drummers.

Says Irrfan, “When Dinesh Vijan (producer) and Saket Chaudhary (director) first told me about the Katpulti Colony kids, I was quite surprised. I saw a few videos of their performances online and loved them. These kids have a lot of talent, but hail from a not-too-stable financial background and have limited opportunities, so I really wanted to get the kids to perform together.”

Among the motley bunch of talented kids is an accomplished drummer, Anshuman Nandi, who won a National Award at the age of three. “It is so inspiring to know how talented kids are today. He was simply amazing. I hope to work with all of them again,” Irrfan adds.

Composed by Sachin-Jigar, the song marks the playback debut of Tanishka, Sachin’s daughter.