Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; September 5, 2020)

Actor Boman Irani’s journey so far has a lot to teach us — for instance, where you are today doesn’t mean you have to be stuck there tomorrow too. It was at the age of 44, when he made his acting debut with Darna Mana Hai (2003), and went on to deliver memorable performances in Khosla Ka Ghosla and Lage Raho Munnabhai (both 2006).

He’s also played two of Bollywood’s most memorable teachers in recent years — Dean Asthana (Munnabhai MBBS; 2003) and Viru Sahastrabudhhe (3 Idiots, 2009). On Teacher’s Day today, we ask him about his life’s most influential teacher and he says, “I find one every day. It could be a kid. When I go abroad and sit in taxis, I get wisdom from taxi drivers. They’re dying to talk, they meet so many people every day, are listening to radio all the time so they know politics as well, and about human behaviour.”

In fact, the 60-year-old’s early life experiences, as a wafer shop owner, involved meeting many people. “I began going there since I was a kid, and would sit in the shop from 1979-94. I learned a lot from my customers, I’d see a character here and there. Teachers in real life can come from any quarters. It could be the guy you meet in the lift, who’d give you a perspective on the world you never imagined! My mother has been a wonderful teacher. It doesn’t have to be a famous guy,” he says.

And he agrees that his character, of a principal, in 3 Idiots is perhaps everything a teacher should not be! “I had to be everything Rancho (Aamir Khan’s character) was not. The theme of the film was ‘Chase excellence success will follow’, I had to play the opposite, chase marks and numbers, and look at the other guy as competition. He did not go for excellence. Had he gone for that, he would have been another Rancho,” Irani adds.