Irrfan Khan’s ‘Song of Scorpions’ to release 3 years after Dubai screening

More than three years after the film was screened at the now defunct Dubai International Film Festival (Diff), late actor Irrfan Khan’s ‘The Song of Scorpions’ is now going on general release.

The film, which had had its world premiere at the 70th Locarno Film Festival in 2017, is expected to release in 2021.

Set in Rajasthan, the Anup Singh directorial narrates the story of a camel trader, Aadam (Khan), who falls in love with a healer Nooran (Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani) who has the power to draw out poison from scorpion bites with the aid of her music. The seemingly romantic tale has dark overtures when a tragedy from Nooran’s past rears its head in her present.

The film also stars veteran Bollywood actress Waheeda Rehman.

Khan, who died in April after battling cancer, had spoken to Gulf News in 2017 on the sidelines of Diff, while promoting his film.

“I have always been fascinated by a man and a woman dissolving into each other, their identities merging in a relationship,” said Khan in an interview with Gulf News at the time. “I am fascinated by Anup’s work. I am ready to do anything that he asks. He has a strange way of telling stories. He leaves space for you to form your own story… this is the kind of experimentation you do emotionally and intellectually.”

At the time of the interview, Khan didn’t believe his film would get a theatrical release after doing the rounds on the international festival circuit. “I am pretty sure it is not for an Indian mass audiences. It was never made keeping in mind the Indian masses,” he said at the time.

Following his death, the film is scheduled to go on general release in India; it is unclear whether it will screen in the UAE.