Filmmaker Om Raut, known today for his directorial ventures, once shared the screen as a child actor with the late Irrfan Khan. Taking a nostalgic trip back to Karamati Coat, Raut opened up about witnessing the brilliance of Irrfan in his very first film. “I had the lead role in the film directed by Ajay Kartik sir, and Irrfan Khan was part of it too. Though his role was brief, I immediately realised I had a big actor standing in front of me,” Raut recalled.
Sharing a vivid memory from the shoot, he added, “There was a simple scene where he had to just cross a path. I was sitting near the cameras, and the way he performed left me mesmerised. He was an actor of a completely different league.” Raut expressed feeling “privileged” to have worked with Irrfan as a child actor, while adding, “It would have been wonderful if I had the chance to work with him as a director also.”
Karamati Coat, an award-winning children’s comedy, was honoured at the International Children’s Film Festival in Frankfurt. Meanwhile, Raut recently turned producer for Netflix’s Inspector Zende, directed by his longtime friend Chinmay Mandlekar, which has been receiving positive reviews from both critics and audiences.