MUMBAI: Actor Mohit Raina says he was supposed to work with Irrfan Khan on a Vishal Bhardwaj movie, but the late actor had to pull out of the project due to his rare illness.

"Before Irrfan sir was diagnosed with his illness, there was a project we were supposed to do together. I was excited that I was going to be part of this project. It was a feature film by Vishal Bhardwaj," Mohit told IANS.

"Then, he was diagnosed with the rare illness, and Vishal Bhardwaj decided that he wanted to make the film only with him. So, he put the project on hold. I was looking forward to working with him but unfortunately it didn't happen. I was positive that as soon as things would be fine, he would return and the project would be revived," he added.

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Irrfan, who was diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumour in 2018, passed away on April 29 at the age of 54. He was admitted to Mumbai's Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital with a colon infection. He succumbed to his ailment in hospital.

Talking about his demise, Mohit said: "It's a huge loss for everyone. I was really looking forward to that one day when he would come back and we all will revive that project and work on it.

"He will be remembered as someone who could never be fitted in a box for years … When you think about it, it's painful that we lost a great artist and person. I feel blessed that I got an opportunity to interact with him a couple of times and meet him a couple of times," he added.

On the work front, Mohit was recently seen in "Mrs. Serial Killer", which was released on Netflix on May 1.

(Also Read: Vishal Bhardwaj: A part of me has died with Irrfan)