Boman Irani decodes his characters, reveals how he prepared for 3 Idiots, Khosla Ka Ghosla: ‘I find learning lines on set, odd’

Boman Irani played Dr. Asthana in one of the most successful films of recent times — Munna Bhai MBBS.

Boman Irani, who was recently seen in 83, has given us several memorable characters, from Dr Asthana to Virus. The actor says even if he’s remembered for a handful of popular roles, he never feels caught up in them. “The moment you say an actor is caught up in characters, they try and do something different for the sake of being different. Films come, some work, some won’t. We try to give our best. Rishi Kapoor had told me, ‘don’t let your hits go to your head, and don’t let your failures go to your heart.’ Reinvent yourself and that’s what I try to do.”

Considering every character he plays has his own histrionics, how often does he get to improvise? “The director casts you, and you have to give him choices of playing the character in different ways. Because I come from theatre, I start working on it months in advance. I find learning lines on set odd. With directors like Raju or Dibakar or Shyam Benegal, I’ve discussed things beforehand. Everything we do is about making choices — to amplify it or to tone it down,” he explained.

Picking his character of Dean Veeru Sahastrabuddhe from 3 Idiots, Boman revealed that he wanted to make him ambidextrous. “I told Raju Hirani that this guy is a genius, who wasn’t able to fulfill his full potential. He should have been a free thinking man, probably even more clever than Rancho but he got stuck in that world of numbers and academics. So I wanted that little touch to be there,” he added.

Boman Irani made his character of Dean Veeru “Virus” Sahastrabuddhe, ambidextrous.

On the contrary, Boman Irani reveals he wasn’t confident about playing Kishan Khurana in Khosla Ka Ghosla initially. Though today, he feels Khurana can have his own spin-off, it took him a long time to get the Parsi in him into the skin of a Punjabi man with conviction.

“I was hesitant that I’ll ruin it for Dibakar Banerjee, but he said it’s going to be fine. I went to Delhi to do some research. I met an actor there, who said I won’t be able to do it, and that this role was good for someone like him. But I took tips from him and learned. Dibakar and I met some real estate agents. In fact I copied the laughter of one of them. Khurana is a very cunning man, yet a fantastic and colourful character. I loved playing him. Even if I play a Parsi, I’ll need to prepare because I’m not that Parsi man. I’m Boman.”

For him, however, the part he played in Well Done Abba remains close to his heart, despite the movie going unnoticed. He called the character “very human”. According to him, “He was a sensitive person, humanitarian, but also a bit mean. That role didn’t get so much love. But it’s alright. I never regret anything. Every film has its own fate.”

A man of many talents, Boman Irani also started Spiral Bound, a screenwriting workshop on the sideline of launching his production house Irani Movie Tone. While Birdman screenwriter Alexander Dinelaris conducted its first session, Spiral Bound has so far crossed 450 workshops, virtual ones included. Directors Raju Hirani, Ram Madhvani and Shakun Batra have also interacted with aspiring writers on the platform.

“I had a story idea which needed to be written. I might have the heart to understand it but I’m not a writer. You do need a little bit of technique to arrange the idea in a way that people absorb it well,” Boman shared about how Spiral Bound ultimately came into being.

But does he agree that screenwriting has undergone any change? Being in the business for two decades now, he opined that good scripts were written even 20 years before he came into picture. Taking examples of movies like Deewaar, Trishul, Sholay, Chupke Chupke, Anand and Amar Akbar Anthony, Boman added, “But there was a different culture, like writing dialogues on the sets. All that has changed. Now because of OTT, we need to churn out scripts that are of international standard because our content can be seen anywhere in the world. What’s important is how to convert a story into a good shooting screenplay.”

Boman Irani has teamed up with Amitabh Bachchan in films like Waqt – The Race Against Time, Lakshya and Bhootnath Returns. In an interview with IANS dated 2019, Bachchan had expressed desire to reunite with Boman, stating that, “I hope he will not upstage me again.”

Boman laughed at the mention, calling Big B “kind”. The two actors are back to working together in their upcoming Runway 34, that is being directed by Ajay Devgn. Boman said it was a joy to return to sets with Bachchan. “It is a treat to watch him go through the motion, the way he constructs his whole movement. It’s a courtroom scene. I’m sitting there watching this man, as if watching a live workshop. He is a legend and it’s a privilege to learn from him,” Boman gushed.

Boman Irani is now looking out to direct his first project. He believes in taking risks, for if you don’t do that, “you’ll never be able to make a bigger leap and jump out of your skin”.

“An American acting teacher named Uta Hagen said it takes 20 years to become a good actor. You cannot do that in your first few films. You might show a spark. But then you end up recycling that spark. Keep learning and brining your life experiences into your technique. You learn so much working with wonderful people like Naseeruddin Shah, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan. It takes years to find maturity as an actor,” he concludes.