And now in Nishikant Kamath's Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan, Irrfan plays a coffee seller on a railway platform.
The role required a whole lot of physical re-orientation for the actor. Irrfan studied the behaviour of the platform people before plunging into the role. "It's the kind of part that just saps you. I'm getting exhausted playing this guy. But what a far cry from the Bhadra-Lok I played in The Namesake," he laughs.
"I'm looking for challenges now all the time. I'd be bored to repeat myself."
And one more challenge is upon Irrfan. In Rakesh Roshan's Krazy 4, his first production for an outside director, Irrfan will star as as a certified mentally imbalanced character.
"The Krazy 4 of the title, that's me, Rajpal Yadav,Arshad Warsi and Suresh Menon, are funny people, sad people, real people mad people. It's very difficult to play a mentally challenged person without going-over-the-top."
Coffee-wallah or crazy, Irrfan seems to enjoy the idea of traversing the whole gamut of roles.