Sutapa Sikdar, Irrfan Khan’s wife, shared a note when Babil started work on The Railway Men. She warned him that he can ‘never hurry (his) legacy’.

Sutapa Sikdar, Irrfan Khan’s wife, posted a lengthy message on Instagram as their son Babil began filming his debut web series, The Railway Men. Sutapa talked about the difficulties of being a single mother and reminded Babil that she has ‘very high’ standards after spending three decades with Irrfan.

“So this week my son started shooting. I am mighty exhilarated for this Babil Khan kid. I am a little late to share this but I wanted to tell all the single mothers that parenting is tough, especially if your child is used to both the parents for 21 years of their life, but it is not impossible (Applauding all single mothers),” she wrote.

Sutapa let Babil know that she would be ‘the most difficult critic to please’. “Sorry son, but sharing my world with a legend all my life (30 years, factually. Lifetime, emotionally. Eternity, spiritually) has got my standards very high. I don’t want to frighten you and overburden you, we have social media for that. I want to remind you, as baba said and rightly so, that I am the most difficult critic to please,” she wrote.

Babil will take a ‘long time’ to check all the boxes on a long list before she can call him a good actor, Sutapa said. “You are beginning baccha and your hard work is the first tick I am happy to give. I know you are overwhelmed with the amazing cast of the series at the same time feel lucky to be able to learn from the best. But truly I happily put the second tick as I see you in the poster with seasoned actors, still just being there not trying extra or faking but actually looking at something to do with the premise of the show. Even if it’s just a poster,” she wrote.