Boman Irani, who made his directorial debut this year at the age of 65 with The Mehta Boys, says he has already begun work on his next film as a director. The actor, who turns a year older tomorrow, tells us he is consciously steering his sophomore project into a new creative space.

“After directing a family drama, I have decided to pick a completely different genre. Just because people liked the first one, I do not think I should stick to the same zone. I want to enjoy different worlds of cinema,” he says.

Interestingly, Irani and his son Kayoze both marked their directorial debuts this year. Kayoze’s film Sarzameen, featured Kajol, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Ibrahim Ali Khan. Speaking about the conversations they have had while navigating this new phase, Irani reflects on the realities of filmmaking: “Making a film is not easy. From the first line you write to finding someone who will back it financially, everything is a challenge. Casting is another game altogether, and then there is budgeting.”

When asked which actors he hopes to direct, Irani says the list is long: “If I name three, another three will feel bad... Directing Mr Amitabh Bachchan would truly be an experience for posterity. Just having the courage to tell him how a scene should go would be something.”

Dilliwale Mr Khosla is back! In October 2024, producer Savita Raj Hiremath had announced that the sequel to director Dibakar Banerjee’s much loved Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006) was in the works, a piece of news that cheered not only its fans but also its cast members. Now, mid-day has exclusively learnt that the film is set to go on floors in December.

Confirming the news, leading man Anupam Kher tells mid-day, “We are starting Khosla Ka Ghosla 2 next month.”

The National Award-winning film — also starring Boman Irani, Parvin Dabas, and Ranvir Shorey — told the story of Kher’s Kamal Kishore Khosla, whose plan of building a house for his family comes crashing when an unethical real estate builder dupes him. Through the satire, Banerjee, who made his directorial debut, examined the corruption that often eats up the hard-earned savings of the common man in India.

Unfortunately, Banerjee won’t helm the sequel. While details about the director and script are under wraps, Kher shares that the original cast will return. “It’s a brilliant script. That was my major concern — the script has to be great. I am excited to reunite with the cast on the set next month,” he says.

Actor Boman and son Kayoze Irani pulled off a rare feat this year — both made their directorial debuts only months apart. Boman helmed The Mehta Boys, which fetched a lot of acclaim earlier this year, while Kayoze directed Sarzameen, featuring Ibrahim Ali Khan in the lead.

Interestingly, both their projects were direct-to-OTT releases. Mention this to Kayoze, and he beams, “It was completely unplanned. My father has always wanted to make a film, and has been writing for years. It just so happened that we also shot our respective films around the same time.”

The 37-year-old, who is prepping for his second directorial shares, “I was shooting in Manali, while dad was filming in Mumbai. It’s such a strange thing that our debuts happened this year.” Ask if he’s afraid of comparisons with his dad and the actor-director replies, “I’m very happy about it. It’s a distinction I don’t know of any other father-son duo achieving this.”

As for his next project, Kayoze tells us, “I’m going into it, thinking it’s my launch. My next is a comedy film; it’s in the process of being written and will go on floors next year, if all goes well.”

Actor Boman Irani, known for his standout roles in Munna Bhai MBBS, 3 Idiots, and Don, was in Hyderabad recently to speak at an event organised by the Young FICCI Ladies Organisation (YFLO). Addressing the theme “Knowledge – The Compass for Life’s Journey,” Irani shared deeply personal stories of his early struggles with learning disorders, speech issues, and anxiety, and how the encouragement of his mother and his passion for cinema helped him rise above them.

Diagnosed with both dyslexia and dyscalculia as a child, Irani recalled how he was often dismissed, even by his own family, as “Bichara Boman.” He struggled with speech, stammering through sentences, which often made him the target of ridicule.

“I was anxious as a child,” he said. “People used to laugh every time I spoke. Even my family members used to feel sorry for me.”

To improve his speech, he turned to music and speech therapy. “I used singing to improve my speech and practiced with pebbles in my mouth,” he said. “It helped me find fluency and confidence.” Today, Irani has acted in over 100 films and is known for his powerful dialogue delivery. “I debuted in films at the age of 41. Now, I’m never at a loss for words,” he shared.

Irani credits his mother with recognizing his potential early on. “She never called me a fool. She understood I was different. She saw that I grasped performance and storytelling,” he said. He recounted a moment that solidified his love for cinema: “A family friend, who was blind, visited our shop and my mother encouraged me to take him to a movie playing at Novelty Theatre. I gave him a running commentary of the entire film. Afterward, my mother told me, ‘If you can narrate a movie to a blind man so beautifully, you can be a filmmaker.’ That was the day I knew where I belonged.”

Though speech therapy helped him overcome dyslexia, Irani shared that dyscalculia still affects him. “During the shoot of Don, I forgot the locker code in a scene,” he said. “Even now, I can’t remember hotel room numbers. Sometimes I go to the wrong room. It reminds me that something’s always a little off – but I’ve made peace with it.”

One of the most beloved films in Indian cinema, Munna Bhai MBBS, was a turning point in Irani’s career. “None of us took money until the film earned,” he revealed. “We didn’t have the budget to shoot the final wedding scene. Our set designer joked about crashing a real wedding, and that’s exactly what we did. We sat behind the flower arrangements, took the shots, and left. That’s how that iconic scene was filmed.”

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"Not everyone is a genius in maths like Shakuntala Devi, sings like Lata Mangeshkar, or plays cricket like Virat Kohli. Every child has their own gift. Children need to be nurtured, not labelled as fools"

It’s been a decade since Rajkumar Hirani made PK. The director shares that it was only a few weeks ago that Aamir Khan called him and shared that he was shooting in Sambhar – the location where the film’s opening scene was shot and where alien PK landed over 10 years ago.

“Aamir said, ‘I’m here and have so many memories.’ That’s where we shot his nude scene, which became the iconic poster, and Aamir so sportingly did it all. From Sambhar to Jaipur, Delhi, and even Belgium, where we shot with Anushka and Sushant at the time, PK took us to many places. Like every film, I have tons of great memories from this one too,” he says. Now a decade later, the director takes us on a journey to the making of this cinematic hit.

PK had some of the memorable dialogues – ‘Lul ho gayi humri life, humra gola par log jhoot nahi bolat hai, aise tukar tukar ka dekhat ho?’ Initially, since the character lands in Rajasthan, the idea was that he would hold someone’s hand, learn their language, and speak Rajasthani.

Hirani shares, “But at some stage, Aamir said, ‘I’ve always wanted to try Bhojpuri, and it might sound more interesting.’ Then, we assumed that the person whose hand he holds is from Bihar. When Aamir delivered the lines in Bhojpuri instead of Rajasthani, it sounded so much more interesting. So, we decided to go with Bhojpuri.”

Hirani shares, “I’ve always felt that India’s diverse languages and dialects add so much richness to storytelling. Giving PK a dialect instead of plain Hindi brought a lot of colour to the character. It’s like in Munnabhai, Mumbai slang – ‘Watt lag gayi meri’ is so much more fun than saying, ‘Main phans gaya’ or ‘Main mar gaya’.”

Before the release of the film, no one knew what it was about. Hirani recalls, “Certain things, when included in promotions, aren’t always very inviting to watch a film. For example, when we were working on Lage Raho Munna Bhai, the initial title was Munna Bhai Meets Mahatma Gandhi. At some point, I felt that the mention of Mahatma Gandhi might not seem very exciting for an entertaining film. People might not feel compelled to watch it and could even be repelled by the idea. I thought, let’s first bring the audience in. Once they’re in, they’ll understand what we’re trying to say. That’s when we changed the name to Lage Raho Munna Bhai. Similarly, for PK, we didn’t want to reveal upfront that it was a film about God and religion. I decided to let the audience come in first. As a result, there were a lot of speculations: maybe the film was about an alien, or maybe the title PK referred to a drunkard, or perhaps Aamir’s character was a loony. The confusion created curiosity. The way Aamir looked in the trailers made people wonder if he was a drunkard or an alien. I wanted the audience to come in and let the film speak for itself.”

None of Sushant Singh Rajput’s films had been released at the time of PK, but Rajkumar Hirani had seen some footage and decided to cast him. He recalls, “I remember we were shooting with him when his first film was released. We all went to see his first film at that time”

Talking about how Aamir Khan came on board, Rajkumar Hirani shares, “I had kind of narrated the core idea to Aamir. He said, ‘Yes, it’s a great idea, but it’s a difficult script to write. So, if you manage to write it, let me know.’ After a year or so, when the script was finally ready, he was the first person I went to and narrated it to. He loved it and immediately said he wanted to do it.”

At one point in the film, PK says, “Naam kucho nahi hai hamaar, lekin pata nahi kaahe sablog hamka Pk-Pk bulwat hai”. Why? “The film was initially titled Tully,” Hirani reveals, “It felt too slangy, so we decided to call it PK. Wherever Aamir’s character went, people called him PK. He goes to the police station to file a complaint against God, and the policeman asks, ‘Pi ke hai kya?’ Then he goes to a temple and asks for his donation back, and again, someone says, ‘Pi ke aaya hai kya?’ That’s when his character begins to think that his name is PK. The idea was to make him seem drunk because the things he was saying were so absurd.”

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“Boman Irani tested for the role of the godman or guru, but the director felt he somehow didn’t fit the image. So, we tried several actors and came to Saurabh Shukla. Saurabh had that perfect look and was ready to shave his head for the role, which made him even more fitting for the character,” Hirani shared.

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Rajkumar Hirani says, "Reality is far more interesting than fiction. Primarily, the idea behind making PK or any of his films is to entertain people. You don’t go out and say that you want to really put a message."

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Rajkumar Hirani says, "The climax scene of PK reflects exactly that - the reality is, we never know who made us or why we are here. Obviously, there is some larger presence, which you can call anything - God, nature, or some mystery. So, we ended up saying in the film that there are two Gods - one we know nothing about, and the one we created."

For years, after 3 Idiots was released, Rajkumar Hirani would bump into people at various places, and somebody would come up and say, ‘I studied medicine, but I’ve quit and am now learning music.’ Someone else said, ‘I’m becoming a writer.’ That even sometimes would scare him and he would think - ‘I hope they succeed. Otherwise, they’ll come knocking on my door one day saying, 'You taught us the wrong things'.

Rajkumar Hirani, however, admits that the film gave a lot of people the courage to pursue what they wanted to do. He says, "I always tell people there’s a difference between passion and obsession. Sometimes people feel passionate about becoming something - like a music director or an actor - and they think, ‘This is my passion.’ But passion alone isn’t enough. I keep telling them, passion is just a desire to be someone. Obsession is what matters. Are you putting in the effort every single day to hone your skill and craft? If you’re obsessed - if you’re getting up every morning and working towards your goal - then pursue it. That’s when you’ll succeed. Passion without effort won’t take you anywhere."

Rajkumar Hirani says that 3 Idiots is one classic example of a problem that exists in every household. There’s always a rift between parents and children about education. The resonance of this issue is very strong, and every household needs a solution to it. He feels that’s why the film resonated so well with people.

He explains, "Most parents could see, ‘Haan yaar, maybe we’re pushing our kids too much.’A lot of parents used to come to me and admit, ‘Maybe we’re pushing our children too much, and we shouldn’t.’"

3 Idiots origin story is somewhere in Rajkumar Hirani's own life. He says, "When I look back at my own life - when I was in school - I think I was a very, very average student, struggling. Kahan yaar, yeh mujhe trigonometry samjha rahe hain, mujhe samajh nahi aata. Kuch nahi samajh aata tha! I was very average, and then I went to college. I wanted to get into an engineering college, but that never happened. I couldn’t secure admission anywhere. So, I ended up studying commerce. But commerce didn’t interest me. Education, in general, was never interesting for me, you know. Commerce college was just 3-4 hours in the morning, which gave me a lot of time to do theater. I started doing plays - directing, acting, writing - and that gave me immense joy. I realized I was spending hours doing that every day. My dad noticed it too, and he said, 'You know what? This is what you really love. Go do this'. This was a very difficult thing for a parent to say back then, especially in a small town like Nagpur, in a conventional, middle-class family. For him to say, 'Okay, leave my business' - my dad used to sell typewriters - and encourage me to pursue cinema, was unheard of at the time. But he guided me. He said, 'Go to film school. That’s where you can learn. Learn the craft'.”

When he got into the film institute, everything changed for him. He started getting scholarships and excelling at every level because he was enjoying what I was doing. He says, "That’s what we try to convey in the film: don’t push kids to do what they don’t want to do. If you chase something you truly enjoy, you’ll naturally excel at it. And if you excel at it, you’ll succeed. Rather than saying, 'Let’s do an MBA' or 'Let’s do finance because it pays well', but not enjoying it, you won’t excel, and success won’t come. That’s where the idea came from. We ended up coining the phrase - Chase excellence, and success will follow. Don’t chase money, because success doesn’t work like that. The process of writing is a long journey. You spend so much time thinking about the subject, reading about it. These ideas start forming in your head. You think, 'Okay, let’s say this', or 'Let’s put it this way'. It’s a journey where you create all these things."

The character of the professor in 3 Idiots is one of the most memorable characters. But when it was offered to Boman Irani, he didn’t want to take on the role as he had already played the Dean in Munnabhai MBBS.

Hirani recalls, “He said it’ll look like the same. I said, but let’s do it differently. Physicality also will change. I said that you’re bald in that; we’ll give you curly hair in 3 Idiots. You didn’t have a mustache; we’ll give you a mustache. Let’s change your physicality first and do it differently. Boman really worked hard to create the character."

Then Boman thought of some school teacher he used to have who used to dress up in a particular way. So, Boman went and designed his own clothes for the character. He went to a tailor in Dadar and remembered how his professor used to wear his pants up to the chest. He also added a lisp to his character. He had certain people in his mind - his professor, some other people - their mannerisms, the way they walked, and everything.

The three actors who played the 3 Idiots were not Raju Hirani's first choice at all. The first set of people were actually much younger and were all new actors at the time. They had selected three actors and auditioned them separately. But somehow, when they were put together, they were not gelling well. There’s a certain chemistry between people, and somehow that wasn’t happening.

Hirani recalls, "And during that time, I remember Vinod (VVC, the producer of the film) had offered a film to Aamir. And Aamir asked him about the film he was doing. While Vidhu Vinod Chopra told him that the film is not good for Aamir as it was a much younger role, Aamir said, ‘Let me hear the script.’"

Rajkumar Hirani recalls, "So I remember going to Aamir's house, and I read the script to him. His first concern was also, ‘How will I look young? It’s a good script, but how will I look young?’ But somehow, when I met him, I felt Aamir has a very innocent, childlike face. I said, ‘If you can lose all this muscle’ - at that time, he was playing Ghajini and was very broad - ‘then you can look like that.’ We just took a chance. We took a leap of faith. He said, ‘Okay, I'll lose it.’ He lost all the weight and muscle and transformed himself. Then one trick we played was that we decided to cast the other actors a little older. You can’t have Aamir alongside someone who’s nearly 17. So, there’s a kind of suspension of belief that happens. Once you get into the story, you don’t really realize it. With Aamir and all these experienced actors coming in, it became a little easier. It’s always easier to work with experienced people than with newcomers."

Rajkumar Hirani says, "If you look at older films, they often wallow in self-pity. Gaane bhi waise hi hote thay - bahut saare self-pity wale. Usmein hota tha - baap khaas raha hai, maa kitchen mein rehti hai, aur behen ki shaadi nahi ho rahi. It was kind of a spoof on that - ki iska ghar humein black and white filmon ki yaad dilata tha. What we didn’t realize was that it might come across as a little dark, and some people might not like it. I still remember someone walking up to me and saying, 'Aap hamara mazak uda rahe ho'. That’s when it struck me. I said, 'I had never seen it like that', but yes, it could be sensitive to some. The idea was just to add a little dark humour about how Indian cinema was portrayed back then."

"Cinema is a reflection of its time. For example, 1947 ke baad unemployment tha - lead hero unemployed hota tha, gareebi hoti thi, khana nahi hota tha. Then times changed - gold smuggling became a theme. Later, underworld dons entered storylines. Over decades, storylines have evolved."

Talking about the Delhi to Ladakh journey, he says, "It's always the script that drives everything. As I said, I love Delhi in terms of its locations and interesting things, so we wanted to set it in Delhi. From Delhi, we wanted to show a journey where they’ve lost a friend and have to find him. First of all, it felt like, where would a person like Rancho go? He would go to a serene place, cut off from the world, because he went to college just for knowledge, not for degrees. He was there under someone else's name, so he would hide away and do his business quietly - do his research, become a scientist, and run a school. That place seemed like Ladakh. At one point, we had considered a location in Sikkim. We even scouted it. But setting it in Sikkim made the journey from Delhi too long. We would have had to set up the film in Calcutta, and Delhi felt right. So, we took this route: they would start from Delhi, go to Shimla (where he used to work), meet Jaaved Jaaferi’s character in Shimla, and then continue to Ladakh. That seemed like an obvious route to take."

Abhijat used to live in the US, and Rajkumar would go there to write with him. One day, they bumped into a person there who constantly talked about new brands.

He recalls, "Abhijat and I are quite uninterested in the way we dress. Abhijat even had a really old car. This man looked at us and said, 'Aap log aise rehte ho? Kuch brands pehna karo'. He even talked about starter brands. We still laugh about it. He said, "I’ll introduce you to some starter brands'. I asked, 'Yeh starter brands kya hote hain?' Abhijat and I believe that we have one life, so we should make great films, travel, and do what we love. He gave an amazing line - 'You have one life; live it up - try all brands'. That night, we laughed so much, and I decided Kareena’s boyfriend’s character should be the total opposite of Aamir’s Rancho. Rancho doesn’t believe in materialism, so we created a contrasting character whose entire life revolves around brands and prices."

Hirani recalls that hum science se hai scene had 32 takes. He says, "I remember a funny incident, and while we were shooting that scene, Aamir would always laugh during the narrations. Every time we reached the line, 'Hum science ki taraf se hain', he would crack up. On the shoot day, it took 35 takes because after every take, Aamir would laugh, then Madhavan would laugh, and then Sharman would laugh."

--Ranchhoddas Shamaldas Chanchad - Rancho, whose real name was Phunsukh Wangdu - is quite an unusual name. How did they come up with this? He says, "We always wanted to create quirky names so the characters would be remembered, rather than giving them very standard names. It was Abhijat Joshi who came up with this name."

There’s a lot of buzz - that’s the first impression you get when you enter the Irani home. Brothers Danesh and Kayoze are having an animated conversation with their father Boman Irani, about who among them is the best at video-game soccer, and mumma Zenobia is having a hearty laugh as the three men continue their banter. It takes us a moment to realise that the brothers are referring to their father when they keep calling him ‘Boms’.

Boman is quick to clarify that even though they call each other by quirky nicknames, it doesn’t mean they have any less respect for each other.“We are one boisterous family - we talk, laugh, eat ,and celebrate together,” says the actor, as he tells us about his equation with his sons.

“It is not that this home is devoid of friction and arguments, but they happen in a healthy way. Everyone should have their own views; otherwise, it will be a boring house,” he shares.

Today, the Irani household is predominantly male, a stark contrast to Boman’s upbringing where he was surrounded by his mother and three sisters. He says, “We pick on Zenobia (his wife) a lot. Jokes aside, she is the main force that holds everything together. Let’s make no mistake about it.”

The actor’s father passed away six months before he was born. He was raised by a single mom, did that influence his approach to fatherhood? “My understanding of fatherhood is shaped by what my mother showed me. I don’t have clear references for what fatherhood is supposed to be. I think it’s instinctive. Just when I thought I had it all figured out after Danesh, Kayoze came along, and it wasn’t the same pattern because they have different personalities. In trying to get the upbringing right, you can either be too lenient or too harsh. I have aimed for a mid-level intensity,” he replies.

Although Danesh and Kayoze live separately, they are regular at their parents’ house. Actor-director, Kayoze says, “We both (brothers) love to come home to spend time with our parents, it never feels like a duty. We sit in the living room, chat, have dinner together, and play video-game soccer. We share our emotions and feelings quite openly in this house. We don’t leave this house without telling everyone, ‘I love you’. Mom has a rule that no one is allowed to leave the house angry. If there is an argument, we resolve it the same night. It’s a part of who we are. Friendship is the first relationship we share with parents.”

Years before Boman entered showbiz, the family struggled to make ends meet. However, they never let their children feel the pinch. Danesh, who is involved in film production and content creation, shares, “Things haven’t really changed much since those days. It’s just that when we got things, we truly appreciated their value. There was a phase when we weren’t financially very comfortable, but we never felt it because we laughed our way through it.”

Boman adds, “The only way to go about life is to make each other laugh.”

Boman stresses the importance of a strong value system over anything else. He says, “Zenobia and I follow one principle: You can’t tell people what to do. You have to lead by example, and they will follow. Of course, I am happy when someone says, ‘Oh, your son has made a great film’, but how they treated people while making it is more important to me. The trust and respect you earn are the true legacy, not your bank balance.”

You know the auditorium will echo with laughter and lessons when you have director Rajkumar Hirani and actor Boman Irani together. The duo who treated audiences to Munna Bhai franchise, and 3 Idiots, were in town on Monday for a talk show organised by the Ladies Study Group, titled All izz well. They spoke about their camaraderie, their hits and misses in showbiz and more. Excerpts...

When asked about the defining moment of his life, Boman shared an interesting incident. “When I was eight or nine years old, I met a wonderful artiste who was a family friend and whom I sang for. She told me that I’d performed reasonably well. She also advised me to be unique as there couldn’t be anyone like me. This advice I took really seriously and honoured it. That artiste happens to be Usha Uthup.”

At the event hosted by the Ladies Study Group, Hirani said he wanted to be an engineer and then went on to study chartered accountancy upon his uncle’s advice. “The scene from 3 Idiots where R Madhavan tells his father he wants to be a wildlife photographer, that is one scene out of my life. I gathered the courage and told my father that CA was not my calling and he asked me to join him with his work. I can’t tell you the joy and relief I felt. That’s when I started working with my father in the morning and doing plays in the evening,” Hirani exclaimed.

For Boman Irani, it was his mother who helped him find his passion and empowered him. “My mom really empowered me. I used to struggle with studies and rarely spoke because of a speech problem but I found confidence on stage and my mom sensed this,” said Irani.

“One day we had a customer at her shop and he wanted to know which movie was running in the nearest theatre. My mother asked me to take him to the theatre. This man was blind and my mum told me to narrate the story as the movie played. I can’t express how empowered I felt as a child,” said Boman.

Hirani shared the kind of curriculum he believes in. “Education should be in a particular way, where we let children do what they like. They should be allowed to do things that they are not just passionate about but are also obsessed with.”

Speaking about the need for tenacity, Irani said, “We should hang on to people who chose to do or write what they believe in because such people are rare.” The actor went on to add, “Youngsters today want to be famous yesterday but they should learn not to compromise on their worth.”

He advised people to learn to hang on to the ones who believe in every word they write and portray a character the way they have written it, because they know what they are doing. “Latch onto them because the journey will be worth it and one that you will forever cherish,” the actor concluded.

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'I make funny films but life at home is drama and action. My wife is a pilot. When people ask her to quit, she tells them that she’ll quit the husband, not flying' – Rajkumar Hirani

'All of Raju’s films are personal as they originate from his belief system. He takes years to write a movie. This man believes what he writes is the Bible' – Boman Irani

'Ones who write what they believe in are rare' - Boman Irani

At the end of Madgaon Express, director Kunal Kemmu hinted at a sequel. That was enough to pique curiosity among audiences who lapped up the buddy comedy starring Avinash Tiwary, Pratik Gandhi and Divyenndu. If the love and acclaim that the film has received is any indication, its second instalment will have takers among the audience. So, is a sequel in the offing?

Tiwary says, “We have discussed [the possibility of a sequel]. Kunal once mentioned that he had thought of an idea, but he said Ritesh [Sidhwani, producer] would tell us if we’ll do it or not. Now, Ritesh is saying, ‘Kunal will tell us whether he has written the script or not.’ But I know the intention was there. The audience’s reaction [is great]. I hope this love keeps growing and we have a chance to come back with a sequel,” he says.

Up next, Tiwary has the Prime Video film, The Mehta Boys, which marks Boman Irani’s directorial debut. The actor has bagged another project, one that he describes as his “biggest film” yet. The role has him excited and scared in equal measure.

“It’s one of the most difficult parts, physically and mentally, and I am petrified about how I’ll deal with it. It’s the biggest project that I have been a part of. I’m not in a position to reveal the project, although I want to shout from the rooftop,” he smiles.

In late January, actor Boman Irani gave a speech at the British Parliament and at the Oxford University, where he was also felicitated. Looking back at the experience, the actor, who was at the Indo-UK Summit with India’s International Movement to Unite Nations (IIMUN), calls London “extraordinary”.

“I was awestruck entering the UK Parliament. People from the House of Lords and House of Commons spoke too. I spoke about our country and the impact it has on the rest of the world, whether it’s our culture, customs, festivals or food, and how we must look at the world through an Indian lens,” Irani says.

Does he think he inspired the English with his wisdom? “I don’t know if I inspired them. The endeavour was to impress youngsters and to remind each other that we are ambassadors of India, its values and customs. The British diaspora was very keen to hear what we had to say,” he adds.

Despite his achievements and spending two decades in the Hindi film industry, Irani refuses to call himself a “senior actor”. He says, “When you say that, everybody asks ‘are you trying to retire?’ I am still discovering myself. I’m debuting as a director at 64. Who does that?”

The Dunki (2023) actor got into films at 44 and never looked back. Calling it the perfect timing, he believes that even if he took up acting early, he wouldn’t have played a “hero”. “Imagine I joined the industry at 24, you think I could have managed to look like a hero? No!,” he explains.

“[But] It definitely gave me a chance to do complex characters that I could mould and give different looks to— make them bald or long haired, much older or younger,” the actor opines.

This has given him a repertoire of unique and varied characters in films like Lakshya (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006), the Don franchise. “It doesn’t matter whether you play 10 police officers. I do not judge the character by the profession. I judge him by his world view, temperament, flaws,” Irani ends.

Boman Irani has his eyes set on the prize. This year, he ventured out of acting to try his hands at the art of filmmaking. “I am producing, writing, acting and directing, which is a lot to do. That’s why I chose not to do any other film because I did not want any distractions,” says Irani, who celebrated his 64th birthday on December 2.

Speaking to us, the actor dispels speculations about him being considered for a biopic on late Indian businessman Subrata Roy, who died on November 14. “No, I have not heard of it and I am not familiar with anything on these lines,” he says.

While Irani is channelling his energy towards filmmaking, his sons are doing their own thing in the industry. “Kayoze is working on his directorial debut, which stars Ibrahim Ali Khan. Danesh is busy with other production jobs. So we engage in a lot of discussions about filmmaking,” he shares.

For Irani, 2023 has been a special year. Not just because he finally got to put the director hat on, but because his film, Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) completed 20 years. Recalling how he landed the role of Dr J C Asthana in the comedy-drama, he says, “I remember the first narration of Munna Bhai, and I didn’t really understand it. Then, I met this gentle soul Raju Hirani (director). When he told me about this story where a gunda wants to be a doctor, I was doubtful about how he was going to pull it off. But as I saw the story move ahead, I was convinced. We finally put it out for the world to see and we haven’t stopped receiving love ever since.”

To this day, Irani’s role has stuck with him. “Not a day goes by when someone does not tap me on my shoulder to talk about that film,” he ends.

The other day I met a girl at the airport and she asked me for advice. She wanted to get into scriptwriting and was asking me how to go about it. I told her “Go the long haul. Invest time and effort in getting an education. Go back to the drawing board and pay your dues.” I learnt very early in life the importance of paying your dues.

After passing from school, I went to the Taj Hotel to get a job as a waiter. A Parsi gentleman Sam Bhada interviewed me. He asked me, “What kind of job do you want?” I replied in style, “Food and beverage.” He said, “Idiot, the whole hotel industry is about food and beverage. Which department do you want to work in?” I replied, “Rendezvous”. He snorted, “Rendezvous, the French restaurant, right at the top. Go to the basement. Start with room service.” He taught me a lesson for life — PAY YOUR DUES. I started with room service and worked my way to the top. Ultimately, I reached ‘Rendezvous.’

Einstein has said that every child is a genius. However, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, the child will always think of himself to be dumb. I was not good at math in school. I did not have a head for numbers. That part of my brain was not working at all. However, the other part of my brain was working overtime. I knew more about cinema as a kid than Steven Spielberg knew as a kid. That gave me a lot of confidence. I took solace in the movies, and read about directors, from Hitchcock to K Asif. As a child, I was crazy about the movies. I became a student of cinema.

I have seen the movie ‘Funny Girl’ 42 times. The usher at the cinema hall would tell me, “Roj roj aata hai picture dekhne, tere ko kya samajh mein aata hai?” My mother recognized my interest in movies and encouraged me to see a movie every day. My grandmother would tell her, “You are spoiling the child rotten,” but she was firm. She insisted going to the movies was an education.

I have watched ‘Pyaasa’ a million times — once for the poetry of the lyrics, once for the cinematography, and once to watch how Guru Dutt delivers dialogues. From the age of 11, I have been making notes, writing scenes, and enacting them. I remember telling Naseer Saab (Naseeruddin Shah) that I regret not going to drama school. He said, “You do not need to regret that. You are a sponge. You have been educating yourself since you were a child. Sitting at your potato shop, you have been observing people. I have seen how you observe people.”

I have learnt my technique through books and I have learnt my craft through people. We did not have internet those days. We did not have many resources at our disposal which I think worked to an advantage. When you have very little, you suck out the most from what you have as much as you can. When you have all the tools available, you do not know which ones to choose.

To be honest and hardworking is always very important. If I am giving a shot and the director says, “Great”, I should not leave it at that. If I know within me that the shot could be better, I must give another take. That’s ethics. What is your conscience saying about any situation you are in? Are you doing the right thing? Did I go home with the knowledge that this is the best shot I could have given? That is ethics. I am very happy that I am dissatisfied. There is a lot I have to do. I am working at it very hard. When parents lead productive lives, children are inspired to do so too.

Everything begins at home. If your child is being sloppy, rude, and arrogant at home, as a parent you need to get him in line. If you let it pass, later in life it will adversely affect his career and relationships. 

Gender equality begins at home. In my house, there is no gender bias at all. My son is a totally hands-on father. He changes diapers, and goes with his wife to the doctor to give the baby vaccination shots. Parents need to share responsibility. If the mother is taking up lessons in history and English, the father needs to teach math and science. Dumping everything on your wife is just not fair.

Kids nowadays are under a lot of parental pressure. When it comes to education, parents push their kids to score more marks. The child has scored 92% in math and the parent says, “92 se kya hota hai, math mein 96 lana chahiye.”

Not all kids will be good at math. If your child has scored 76% in math in the final exam that is the best they can do. Accept that. Parents tend to brag, “Pata hai mera beta class mein first aaya.” It boils down to ego. Focus on what the child is good at. Find out the child’s interests and strengths. What does the child have a flair for? Which subject interests him the most? Find out what he is brilliant at. Get over this obsession with scoring 96% in math. Ten years down the line you see people who did score 96% in math in professions not even remotely connected to math. Marks are not the yardstick of intelligence.

One parenting advice I’d like to give is — don’t scream at your kids. Children do not listen when parents scream. If you want to put your point across, do it at the right time and space. Wait for a quiet moment, look the child in the eye, and then convey your message. You must put your point across in a rational manner. Shouting does not help.

Excerpted from ‘Raising Stars: The Challenges and Joys of Being a Bollywood Parent’ by Rashmi Uchil with permission from Fingerprint! Publishing

There are numerous ways in which Amitabh Bachchan has touched the lives of his fans and friends—sometimes through his films, and at other times, through his benevolence. And there can’t be a better occasion than his birthday to thank the megastar for it. Ahead of his 81st birthday on October 11, the Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) team shot a special episode that has Vidya Balan, Chiranjeevi, Vicky Kaushal, Anupam Kher and Boman Irani conveying their warm wishes to him.

For the episode that will be aired tomorrow, the team brought in sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan to surprise the actor.

“Ustad Amjad Ali Khan presented a medley of songs. Then, to the megastar’s surprise, actors Vidya, Chiranjeevi, Vicky, Anupam and Boman wished him through video messages. While he has worked with Vidya on Paa [2009], Te3n [2016] and many more, he had a guest appearance in Chiranjeevi’s Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy [2019]. Big B recently collaborated with Anupam and Boman on Uunchai [2022]. All of them spoke warmly about how he had inspired their love for acting,” reveals a source.

The legend was teary-eyed by the outpouring of love. “Usually I am the one who gives people tissues, but now, it’s my turn,” he quipped, before adding that he holds the birthday celebrations on the KBC set closest to his heart. Last year, Jaya and Abhishek Bachchan had featured in the special birthday episode. 

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor in connection with its probe into illegal online betting platform Mahadev Book app. The actor has been asked to appear before the agency on Friday. According to the ED, the actor had endorsed the illegal app on social media and accepted payments which the agency is treating as proceeds of crime. Kapoor wa sn’t immediately available for a comment.

Mahadev Book App is an umbrella syndicate that allows betting websites to enroll new users and create user IDs, according to the ED. Being run from the UAE, it is into online betting and gambling, which are illegal in India.

“Since this is the first summon, Kapoor could present himself in person or represent himself through a representative,” said an official privy to the development. The agency wants to know the contact and payment details from the actor.

“Kapoor would have been approached by their associates in India. We want to get details of the point person(s) as the main accused are on the run and are suspected to be holed up in Dubai. Also, the payments made to the actor are suspected to be in cash; we want to know who made the payments, the timeline of these payments and i f this was through any hawala operator,” added the official.

Other than Kapoor, the ED is probing at least a dozen celebrities, sportspeople and around 100 social media influencers who promoted the app and allegedly received payments. This is separate from a doze n Bollywood personalities, including prominent actors and singers, who are under the scanner of the ED for allegedly receiving payments for attending or performing at the wedding of Sourabh Chandrakar, one of the founders of the platform, in the UAE.

According to the ED that probes money-laundering cases, most of the payments to the celebrities were made in cash through hawal a channels. An ad for the app on social media features actors Boman Irani, Shakti Kapoor, Amisha Patel, Sonakshi Sinha and Sharddha Kapoor. So far, the ED hasn’t summoned any of them.

When two stalwarts join forces, it’s bound to generate much interest. Uunchai marks the maiden collaboration of Amitabh Bachchan and filmmaker Sooraj Barjatya For the director, the friendship drama is a departure from his previous offerings that have been “moment-oriented”. “I pick up happy moments in life and create happy surroundings around them. This is the first time I had a clear story and layered characters,” he reflects.

Uunchai — which has a stellar cast, comprising Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Neena Gupta, Sarika, Danny Denzongpa and Parineeti Chopra — revolves around three sexagenarians who trek to the Himalayas to fulfil their friend’s dying wish. Bachchan was the first to come on board.

“Bachchan sir was the first name that came to my mind because he is the epitome of courage. I approached him in 2020. I sent him the script, and then we had a narration over Zoom. It’s not easy to narrate to him because he listens attentively. After the narration, he said, ‘I liked your thought that we all have our personal Everest to climb. Who else is working with us?’ As soon as he said that, my day was made, as it meant he was on board.”   

Working with the senior actors was a learning experience for Barjatya. “We used to have 9 am to 6 pm shifts, but there have been days when we packed up at 11.30 am as all the actors were punctual and knew their lines by heart. I will cherish the hours spent with Bachchan sir in his vanity van because he taught me about life, poetry, and filmmaking. The one thing that stands out about him is his respect for writers. I have started respecting writers much more after working with him.”

They say an artiste is never bigger than the film. The senior actors believed in the maxim, putting Uunchai above all else. The director cites an example. “It is their confidence as an actor that doesn’t allow them to [invade] a co-actor’s space. There was an important scene where Bachchan sir had to deliver some lines. A day before the shoot, I told him that I would like to give these lines to Anupam ji and Boman sir. He agreed, stating that it made more sense. In that entire scene, he has only one dialogue: Chalo.”

Having a Sooraj Barjatya film is a matter of pride for an actor. Anyone who has worked with Barjatya will tell you that the soft-spoken director is a man of few words, keeping his praise and critique to the bare minimum. This often left the cast of Uunchai—comprising Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani, Parineeti Chopra, Neena Gupta, Sarika and Nafisa Ali—in a quandary, as they wouldn’t understand whether the director was happy with their shot or not. However, as filming progressed, the actors realised that he had a unique, and almost involuntary, way of expressing his appreciation.

A source reveals, “During shoots, Sooraj is quiet and almost poker-faced, and does not react at all. Since many of these actors were collaborating with him for the first time, they used to look to him for feedback on their shots. But soon, they realised he has a habit of doing a small jump whenever a shot has turned out perfectly.” The source adds that on the last day of filming, Bachchan, Kher and Irani mimicked Barjatya’s jump to show him how much they enjoyed collaborating with him. At a recent promotional event, the senior actors repeated the act, leaving the filmmaker in splits.

Reflecting on his first association with Barjatya, Bachchan shares that it was a delight to discover his quirky way of appreciation. “When Sooraj is happy with the shot, he smiles and does this little, involuntary jump. Then, we all know we have done well,” beams the megastar. Irani adds that the director has a distinct way of expressing his dislike as well. “When Sooraj is not happy, he lets out this little sound, and says, ‘It was a nice shot, but the camera was out. So let us take another shot.’”

For Barjatya, Uunchai—which revolves around three senior friends who trek to the Himalayas to fulfil their deceased friend’s last wish—is a special project. The director says that teaming up with the veteran actors has enriched him. “Amit ji teaches us discipline and to shoot at one go. Anupam ji is someone I go to when I need advice. He can connect with the technicians, crew and everyone. Boman ji’s sense of humour puts everyone at ease. Neena ji and Sarika ji are wonderful artistes. Working with them was a learning experience.”