Irrfan gets ready for Japan!

Having nearly wrapped up work on two Hindi films Megha Gulzar's Talwar and Sanjay Gupta's Jazbaa as well as the shooting of Hollywood film Inferno with Tom Hanks, Irrfan Khan will now take on a new project.

Irrfan plays a pivotal role in a television series entitled The Tokyo Trials, recreating the events and courtroom drama during the Tokyo War Crimes Trial in 1946 when World War 2  criminals were put on trial.

Irrfan plays one of the 11 judges at the trial.

Shedding light on his role, Irrfan says, "It's a role I know nothing about. It's a real-life role of an Indian judge, who presided at the Tokyo War Crimes Trial. This judge did not believe that putting individuals on trial for war crimes was a solution to eradicating war crimes. He wanted to go to the root of the crimes."

Irrfan was deeply fascinated by the part.

"I've read up a lot on him," he says. "But I don't know how closely I can model my performance on him. When Van Kilmer played Jim Morrison in The Doors, he played the real man exactly the way he was. But Ben Kinglsey played Gandhiji in his own way. Even my Paan Singh Tomar was not a replica."

The actor will leave this week to shoot in Japan and then is likely to join Meghna Gulzar at the Toronto Film Festival in September for a screening of her film Talwar.

"So I am away from India for quite a while now," smiles Irrfan.