Boman Irani, who stepped into direction with the film The Mehta Boys recently, shares that directing a film was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but a dream that he harboured since childhood. Clearly, life at 64, is turning out to be yet another adventure for the veteran actor, whose film premiered at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival. Staying relevant, Boman clarifies, are not the magic words that drove him to explore uncharted territories like directing a film.

“How do you even define ‘relevant’? Being in the news? Being active on Instagram? Or having continuous films coming out one after the other?” he asks, adding, “All I know is that I am passionate about my craft – whether it is acting, writing, directing or teaching screenwriting.”

Boman was certain that he would become a director one day, long before acting was on his radar. “I always knew I was going to be a director, even as a kid,” he reflects, adding, “However, I also knew it would take time because I was not trained for it. Sure, watching films, reading scripts, and devouring books helps, but at the end of the day, if you want to direct well, you first have to learn how to write. Directing is not just about taking a shot, swinging the camera from left to right or guiding actors. It is about understanding the anatomy of a script and the story it wants to tell. You have to know why you are telling the story and how it will resonate with people from the writing stage itself. The moment you grasp that, you can finally decide you can be a director.”

Like his acting career, Boman’s directorial debut came later in life. Ask him if there is such a thing as ‘too late’ to follow your passions and he replies, “Yes, I started acting later in life, but that’s the way I am. I don’t follow time frames for anything. I believe you have to feel ready. If your heart does not tell you are ready, there is no point diving in just because you are 45 or because the clock is ticking away. What matters is that your mind is active and there is passion inside of you.”

His initial apprehensions about not being able to juggle both acting and directing turned out to be his biggest asset, pushing him to give his all. He admits, “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to handle both roles effectively. However, that fear worked in my favour. We spent three months meticulously prepping for every scene, shot and camera angle because I did not want to leave anything to chance.”

When you hear the name Boman Irani, you think, ace actor. Although a late start in the movies at age 44, he held his own from his very first film, the 2001 indie venture, Everybody Says I'm Fine!

And yet, it's in fact screen writing that he says, that has held his fancy from the start. "I had always wanted to write my own screenplay. When you do movies, and want to do something different, sometimes, you end up helping with the writing, here and there. But when I started to write a screenplay, I knew I needed to reinvent myself. Working in the industry as an actor doesn't automatically make you qualified to be an actor-director. You have to work at it."

And so the prep began. For the last eight years, Irani has been studying screenplay writing; researching the subject, and working with 2014 Oscar winning screenplay writer Alexander Dinelaris, who wrote Birdman. "I met Dinelaris when he hadn't yet written Birdman, and we became friends. He has been helping me with the craft since. I speak to him every day. In 2019, when I launched my production house Irani Movietone, I decided that instead of having a party, why not fly him down for a huge writing workshop. So many screenwriters, and students attended. It was a great time. And then just when we were going to start filming, the lockdown began."

Pandemic or not, the participating writers weren't about to leave him alone. Requests from amateur screenwriters poured in, so one day, he collected a bunch on Zoom.

Ever since, in the last six months, Irani has been holding a daily free screenwriting masterclass, called Spiral Bound. He has gone through 160 sessions with over a hundred students. Irani is helped by his nephew, novelist Anosh Irani, who the actor says, is his partner in crime. "He helps distill everything I say, and sometimes makes it more comprehensible."

Alfred Hitchcock once said, "To make a great film you need three things—the script, the script and the script". But what should the script centre around?

For Irani, it's all about the hero, or the central character. "Don't tell me a story via the plot. Tell me a story through the hero's journey. We have to get to the heart of the lead character. The story is not about incidents. It's about the anguish and challenges that the hero faces." He's certain that every good movie has almost always been about the central character's journey and struggle. "Lagaan is not about the British rule and a cricket match. It's about a man who dared to rebel, and then had to rally the troops. What's your favourite movie?" he asks this writer.

"A Few Good Men."

"Right. That film is not about a fight between a lawyer and an army officer. It's about a young man who has to rise beyond the shadow of his father. This is such a fun game! Every good movie ever is about the character."

Irani also corrects us when we say that the focus on the script is a new development in Bollywood. "No, think of movies like Anand. It's not about a man who has cancer. It's about his attitude and his passion for life depicted in every scene."

Other than the main character, he places importance on structure. "The structure starts from the moment you say the story will end," he says. And, it's all about dividing the script into three parts. "Act 1 is setting it up. The day he accepts a challenge, that's when Act 2 begins." It's here where he gets the most questions from students. "They want to know what happens in this empty marshland, the space between Act 1 and 3. How do they write it? We have been watching movies to get a hang of it. We have to start the journey, start working around the obstacles, maybe there is a new obstacle. We all fall into trouble in that marshland."

From his own career, he remembers the scenes from Khosla ka Ghosla, written by Jaideep Sahni, as magical. "The scenes in this movie are so tight and correct in how the action rises from each moment."

The sessions have also seen some big names from the industry pop in as guest lecturers. Other than Denelaris, Rajkumar Hirani, made an appearance. "With Raju, we all went on a journey. He said when he wrote Munnabhai, he would go and sleep with his friends who worked at the hospitals. He saw the real patients. So he said, observe life around you, and make it personal. Write about something that moves you, and not just something that will sell."

With Dinelaris, the focus was on keeping the conflict alive in each scene. "He spoke about the character surprising you as a writer. He said, 'Yeah, the character gave me the line. He spoke back to me'. That's truly fascinating."

Irani also sees the workshops as a bonding exercise, especially in the times we live in. "Apart from learning, we are sticking together as a family. The circumstances we find ourselves in have been debilitating. And this has helped us know we are all in it together."

Want to attend a session? Drop a mail to yash@iranimovietone.com 

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.

Etti Bali (HINDUSTAN TIMES; August 19, 2020)

Actor Boman Irani started off as a waiter, went on to take up photography after buying a camera with his savings, and at the age of 35, became an actor. Now, he is planning his directorial debut. Today, on World Photography Day, we take a look at his journey.

Photography was a natural choice for Irani, whose father was a photo-grapher. “I never met my father, so it (few cameras and some negatives) was the only physical memory of him,” says the 60-year-old actor.

Although he took up photography when he became a father, he had read a lot of books on it before that, and it soon became an outlet for expression. He says, “Photography taught me patience. It was a stepping stone to what I eventually wanted to do. Everything I want to express started from photography.”

Counting legends such as Raghu Rai, Pablo Bartholomew and Henri Cartier-Bresson among his inspirations, he says, “These are the real disciplined gurus who devoted their lives to the craft. There’s nothing flashy to what they do, but it’s outstanding. You don’t have to read anything about them. You just have to see their photographs and you understand what went into it.”

This opens the field for the age-old equipment vs vision debate. For Irani, it was a lack of means to afford equipment that helped him hone his craft. “I’m not saying equipment is not necessary, but all my photography came out of lack of equipment. The moment I feel I am being stunted if I don’t have an additional lens, I am finished. At that point in time, I never had the notion that I would increase my kit. Then, you rely on vision, expression, creativity. Even though specific kinds of photography would need equipment, never be stunted by it,” he advises.

With the Coronavirus pandemic, has it become difficult to go out and click? “I now look forward to the photograph to come to me. Don’t feel stunted just because you’re at home. You are only stunted by your own lack of creativity,” he opines.

Nishad Neelambaran (HINDUSTAN TIMES; July 24, 2020)

“The Coronavirus lockdown has been difficult on everybody, but it’s about how people are coping with it which is more important,” says Boman Irani. The Munna Bhai M.B.B.S (2003) actor says that “it has been less hard on us — people with hard roofs and three-square meals everyday as compared to ones who don’t”. “I don’t think we are in any position to grumble. We should be grateful. Yes, it does get a little frustrating. But this is what it is and we have to just get along with it. The more you grumble, the worst it is going to be for you,” he opines.

Ask him about shoots resuming in the country, and he says, “Honestly, I don’t know and I don’t think I am in a position to talk about when shoots will begin. It is a conjecture. But it depends on a lot of factors. When the time is good, the shoots will begin.” So, does he think shooting with less people on the sets will be a challenge? “Adapting to situations like we are doing today and doing stuff from home, we will find our way to do newer things. I don’t think it will be a challenge,” she shares.

However, Irani has another concern when it comes to fewer people on the sets. “Less people on a set means less people will be employed. That hurts me more. Of course, that will be a greater challenge than making movies with a thinner unit,” he says.

About people preferring to watch films on OTT platforms than in the movie theatres in the future, he says that “all of this is temporary”. “I don’t know how long it will take. People have been watching movies on OTT platforms and they will continue to do so. (However) There is restlessness among people. And I think when the waters are safe and the sharks have all swam away, people would like to go back to the theatres. With trepidation, of course, but once things are safer the theatres will fill up again,” adds Irani.

Personally, Irani agrees that it might not be the right time to start shooting. “Not now for sure. But if it has to be done, it has to be done with extreme caution and manic hand washing and sanitising. If that will be the method people are ready to follow in a regimental way like it’s an army rule, then there will be a slow infiltration to the studios. There will be a great amount of discipline required,” he signs off.

Neha Maheshwri (BOMBAY TIMES; June 3, 2020)

Ever since the lockdown was implemented more than two months ago, Boman Irani has followed a simple mantra — keep busy and spread positivity. So much so, the actor has steered clear of the deluge of WhatsApp forwards, which, according to him, does nothing but incite panic. He says, “Take charge of what’s in your control and spread positivity in your family and community. As long as you do that, you have done your job.”

Now that there are no shoots and events happening, how does he keep himself occupied? The senior actor replies, “I am conducting screen-writing sessions, which start at noon and go on till about 2 pm. Then there are the photography sessions that I moderate, asking questions to a panel of photographers, which go on till 5.30 pm. It’s in the evening that people tend to feel really low. So, that’s when I reconnect with people that I haven’t talked to in a long time. For example, a video call with my school friends, whom I haven’t met since 1975! The remaining time is reserved for the family. At night, I watch movies, and decide which one can be broken down into a model screenplay for the next day’s session. So, sharing, learning and smiling are on my agenda on a typical day.”

Boman says that his favourite part of the day is the morning. “I love enjoying morning chai with my mom. These are simple things you miss out on when you are shooting,” he shares. Talking about family, he adds, “It’s like a big fat party. I dance with my grandkid — he shakes his body, I shake mine and everybody joins in and we have a bit of a jig. We also play board games together. When was the last time we played games with our families?”

The actor feels that the lockdown has helped humankind re-evaluate their priorities. “My learning from this global crisis is to never take our freedom for granted. Also, we should respect the resources we have more. Today, we are feeling grateful even for basic supplies, things we had taken for granted till now. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed our perspective towards everything — life, relationships and the value of money. Besides strong biological immunity, we need to build strong psychological immunity as well. For a lot of people, it has been extremely difficult. All I can say is, ‘hang in there’,” he signs off.

As told to Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 25, 2020)

It was during the editing of the short film, Let’s Talk, shot on a handycam, that Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who was cutting his Mission Kashmir at the same studio, noticed me. He called me for a meeting and said that he wanted to work with me in his next. I asked him which film it would be for and he said he didn’t have any at the moment, but whenever he made one, I’d be in it. Eight months later, I got a call. He wanted me to play the antagonist, J C Asthana, the dean of a medical college, in a film titled Munnanhai MBBS, to be directed by his editor Raju (Rajkumar Hirani). The name was weird, but after a narration, I was convinced.

My first day on the set was the first day of the film’s shoot as well, which meant it was Raju’s first day as a director. My first shot was with Dutt saab (Sunil Dutt), who was facing the camera after 16 years. So, in a way, it was his first day too. You can imagine the nervous energy on the set.

As soon as I walked into the set, Dutt saab ushered me into his vanity van for rehearsals and started calling for tea. I offered to get it for him, but he insisted on doing it himself, confiding that he was a nervous wreck. Here I was sweating because my first shot was opposite the legend I’d grown up idolising. And he tells me he is nervous!

Going by my get-up, he thought I was older than him and started addressing me as ‘Doctor saab’. When Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) dropped by, he saw me hanging out with his father and I became his ‘uncle’. I wanted to tell him that, at 44, I was four months younger to him but I was just so happy being around such established actors in my first film.

In my first shot, I bump into Dutt saab’s character, Hari Prasad Sharma, while buying nariyal pani after attending a laughter club at the park. Happy at this chance meeting with an old friend, Dr Asthana is dumbfounded on learning that Sharma’s son, who he had dismissed as a good-for-nothing boy was now a doctor and ran a hospital. Simultaneously, he is irritated because the nariyal pani wala (Rohitashv Gour), planted there by Munna, keeps interrupting them. He shouts at him, then, laughs out loud. I fumbled and forgot my lines the first time. Even Dutt saab wanted another take because he thought he could do better than the first.

The script had the words ‘laughs’ pencilled next to my dialogue. Dutt saab assumed it would be a short laugh. The surprise on his face when I broke into a full-throated guffaw was real. Raju told me we’d shoot one take with the laugh and one without it. After a while, we figured the laugh added to Dr Asthana’s quirks and finally stopped shooting a scene twice.

At the film’s premiere, when I walked up to Dutt saab, he greeted me with a cursory smile and hurt, I wondered where had all the warmth disappeared. When I told him I was ‘Doctor saab’, he looked lost, asking me which hospital I worked for. It was then that I realised he didn’t recognise me because I was sporting a full head of hair and he had only seen me with my bald pate. We had a good laugh over it.

Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; December 25, 2019)

High on laugher, content, star value and the message it sends across, 3 Idiots remains one of the most relevant films of our times and even after a decade of its release. Revolving around the Indian education system, the 2009 film starred Aamir Khan as the quirky Rancho/Phunsukh Wangdu, who aims to prove that one needs to chase excellence, and success will follow. He locks horns with the ruthlessly competitive dean of his engineering college, Viru Sahastrabudhe played by actor Boman Irani.

Virus (as the 60-year-old is still referred to) is as far removed from Boman in real-life as it could. Rude, insensitive, arrogant — he is anything but this!

“The first scene I shot as Virus was in Shimla, when my daughter (played by Kareena Kapoor Khan) is getting married. The team had just had a harrowing escape from the blizzard in Leh-Ladakh. They were pretty shattered when I met them. Luckily, we could help them deal with the tension,” he says.

But that’s after Virus became a changed man. As for the original, mean character, he got to play it at IIM Bangalore, where the college scenes were shot. Reveals Boman, “Every morning, I’d get dressed in the velcro shirt, with the hook tie, even if I wasn’t shooting, and cycle around the campus. People didn’t recognise me and thought I was a professor. I’d bark and snarl at everybody, leaving them wondering, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’ I’d walk into any lecture, the professor would stop talking, thinking maybe I was a new appointee. I’d look around the room, say ‘Carry on’ and go. I just wanted to own the place! My character was one who had been there for 20-30 years. One masterstroke was that we all stayed in the campus, in the staff quarters. All the boys — Aamir, Chatur (played by Omi Vaidya) Sharman (Joshi) and Maddy (R Madhavan) felt part of it.”

Boman received acclaim upon its release, and the film ranks among the highest-grossers of Indian cinema. Though Boman expected the film to work, he didn’t have any idea about the cult status it would achieve. “I’m still surprised. When it released, we thought it’d be a nice film… I realised it had become big when I got calls from people who I hadn’t heard from in years, about the film. I was on a vacation, and when I returned, we went on a victory tour. We would stand on the terrace of the theatre, and there would be a sea of people on the streets! I never thought Virus would capture (attention),” he smiles.