Ironically, however, it required an English movie to bring his acting prowess to focus.

That is the story of 38-year-old Irfan Khan who played with aplomb a 21st century Macbeth who is transported to the underworld of Bombay.

Irfan has wowed film critics with his role as a gangster oscillating between loyalty to his boss and the boss' mistress in the Hindi feature film "Maqbool", directed by well-known music composer Vishal Bhardwaj, which is to be commercially released in India in November.

"Portraying the complex character of Maqbool was a tough task. But I enjoyed doing the role every bit of it," said Irfan who was recently here for the International Film Festival of India where the film was premiered.

The character of Maqbool has in it gray shades and yet it arouses sympathy and Irfan has brought out those layers of feelings effectively.

Some time ago, Irfan had earned accolades for his performance in newcomer director Tigmangshu Dhulia's "Haasil," a film about criminalisation of politics in university campus. In fact, the film, made mostly by debut actors and actresses, rode entirely on the strength of Irfan's role to earn a good press.

"Haasil" did not turn out to be a box-office hit but it did help Irfan in cementing his stature as an emerging actor.

Irfan has been in television serial circuit for quite some time but the real big break for him came when he appeared in "The Warrior," directed by British film-maker Asif Kapadia, which was sent for the Oscar award this year.

While playing Maqbool has given creative satisfaction to Irfan, he would not like to be typecast. After all, one of the reasons for his moving out of the television acting was that he was getting tired of doing the same roles again and again.

That is why he is looking forward to the challenges of playing out different types of roles in a number of films for which he has been roped in. Among them are Dubai Return, Killing of a Blue Film Maker, Shadow of Time, Blue Train, Charas, Aan and Sapna Hai Kahani Hai Ya Haqeeqat Hai.

Irfan would like himself to be equally at home with acting in serious and commercial cinema. All that he would like are challenging roles that bring out the best in him as an actor and make viewers put on their thinking caps.

He is, however, happy that small budget films with stories different from mainstream commercial movies are getting back in vogue and that growing number of multiplexes have provided an exhibition outlet for such films. For, believes Irfan, these are the films which provide an opportunity to real actors to showcase their potentials.