I’m never going to retire: Boman Irani

If you ever think life is too late to start over, then meet Boman Irani. Here’s a man whose father owned a wafer shop. His father passed away before he was born and he knew he had to provide for his family. From working as a waiter at the Taj Mahal Hotel to doing advertisements and finally landing the role of Dr Asthana in ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ at the age of 35, Irani’s life is an example of plot twists. He might be known as a latecomer, but his body of work is remarkable.

From his offbeat debut in ‘Everybody Says I'm Fine!’ (2001) to hits like ‘Main Hoon Na’, ‘Lakshya’, ‘Don’, ‘Dostana’, ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’, ‘3 Idiots’, ‘Housefull’, ‘Dunki’ and now ‘Detective Sherdil’, Boman has quietly built one of the most solid careers in Indian cinema. Give him any role and you can count on him to nail it, every single time.

This year has been particularly special. He made his Cannes debut with Anupam Kher’s directorial ‘Tanvi The Great’, attended the French Open in Paris and also made his directorial debut with the heartfelt ‘The Mehta Boys’. When asked if he feels like his wishes are coming true, he responded in his calm manner.

“Every year, I fulfill one wish. Nobody gets to know. You must fulfill your wishes. You must keep working. You must keep creating. You must keep giving. You must keep taking,” he said.

At 35, he became an actor. At 55, a scriptwriter. And now, at 65, he’s a director. Most would call that a late start. He calls it his pace.

“This is the pace I like. I’ve never been in a hurry. What’s the rush? We don’t need checklists for life. Do what suits you. For some, 65 means retirement. Not for me. I’m never going to retire. As long as my mind is curious, as long as I feel like a student, I’ll keep going,” he told ‘Millennium Post’.

Interestingly, he never once regretted not joining Bollywood earlier. Rather, he jokes that we would have seen a ‘raw actor’. He credits his strong training of 15 years in theatre for his discipline, understanding of scripts and emotions.

“I started doing theatre at the age of 35. I was doing theatre till I was almost 49. That really helped me to build a great routine. I could have done a lot more characters had I entered Bollywood earlier, but what if those characters were not good? It suits me to work at this pace,” smiled Irani.

Of late, he is busy promoting his latest OTT work, ‘Detective Sherdil’, on ‘Zee5’. Also starring Diljit Dosanjh, this thriller shows his character, a business tycoon, dying early. But then, the entire investigation surrounds his murder and therefore, the character resurfaces several times. For Irani, the job profile of a character has never been his concern.

“A character is defined by his beliefs, his nature, his desires and weaknesses. Once I understand these traits, I can play a character,” said the ‘Jolly LLB’ actor.

Also, for him to say yes to a script, it has to have a narrative structure.

“A story can’t be only about plot points. You can give a very good director an average script and he might never make a good film. But if you give a very good script to an average director, it might become a good film. Unless he goes out of his way to ruin it,” said Irani, who doesn’t find time to nurture his passion for photography any longer.

Truth be told, most of us are addicted to the world of OTT. But Irani said he is ‘addicted to cinema’. In fact, on the ‘Zoom’ call, he showed us how he has a huge collection of Blu-ray movies in his cupboard.

“I’m not necessarily addicted to OTT. I am addicted to cinema as a whole,” he smiled.