Adding to stage success

For Boman Irani, actor and fashion photographer, good theatre translates as a sensible and entertaining performance that helps to connect...

For Boman Irani, actor and fashion photographer, good theatre translates as a sensible and entertaining performance that helps to connect people. He was in town recently as part of the cast of the play, Unfaithful. His animated face, mischievous eyes and antics have made you laugh in umpteen advertisements on television. So it comes as no surprise when actor Boman Irani says, 8220;I am basically a comedian. I don8217;t like to make people cry.8221; While his natural flair for the comic is evident in commercials it is his ability to connect with people that has stood him in good stead in his two passions 8211; fashion photography and more recently, English theatre.

8220;I got into theatre by accident three years ago. I was doing still shots of Shaimak Davar who, although is comfortable during live shows and recordings, is quite cagey about still photography. I was trying to make him more comfortable by pulling all kinds of stunts before him, trying to get the right kind of expression out of the guy. After the session, Shaimak insisted I go do an audition for Alyque Padamsee. I did one scene from his play Roshni and the next thing I knew I was on,8221; he remembers. Once on stage, Irani found the going relatively easy. Theatre to him is an immensely enjoyable experience. He dismisses the notion that most successful English plays in the country are innuendo-laden bedroom farces.

8220;Good English theatre may have a smaller audience. But a good product is bound to get a good audience. A good play is one which is sensible and meaningful, where the subject is handled with sensitivity,8221; he says. But he has no pretensions about the basic aim of a performance, entertainment. 8220;Both my plays I8217;m not Bajirao8217; which has been performed six times in Pune and Mahatma vs. Gandhi have been entertaining,8221; he says.

Whoever thought that most roles demand only mental preparation from an actor may have to do a rethink. 8220;In Mahatma Vs. Gandhi, a play in which -believe it or not 8211; I play Gandhi, I not only need to gear myself mentally, I also had to have to lose 18-20 kgs before I play the role!,8221; he says. He also has a number of roles in commercials like Fanta, Krackjack, Limca and Philips pearl bulb. He has definite ideas about the roles that he will not do. 8220;To me it is important that I only do roles that my wife and children would approve of. I do not like anything that8217;s crass. Good theatre is that which connects people.8221;

It is just establishing this connection with people that he feels has been important even in his avatar as fashion photographer. 8220;I knew I had to do something creative. One day I just picked up the camera and decided to become a photographer. I started with a shoot for Raymonds. I found that I communicate well with people and so decided to concentrate on fashion photography,8221; he says. He has since been associated with the Miss India and the Look of the Year beauty contests. 8220;Everybody these days wants to get a portfolio shot. I think Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen, single-handedly each turned the fashion scene on its head. More than aspiring models I see their mothers taking more of an interest. Of course there are those whose face has a character in it. ,8221; he says. The most beautiful model he has shot? 8220;Malaika Arora. She lends dignity to even an ordinary chair,8221; he says.

The most memorable campaign he has done? 8220;It was a public awareness campaign on child stress, a subject close to my heart. I find that children today are more burdened with studies, homework and activities than ever before. Even I don8217;t work on a Sunday or bring my work home 8211; they do,8221; he says.How does he strike a balance between the two interests? Says he, 8220;In both I play the entertainer8221;.