Whatever role Boman Irani takes on, it’s guaranteed he’ll have you in splits. From the hero’s bete noir in Munnabhai MBBS, to a mean Parsi son in Being Cyrus, Irani has come full circle. ”In Bollywood, you have to learn to say no. I’ve been lucky, but it’s been a conscious effort to select roles,” he says. The actor will now be seen as an Interpol officer and then a Rajput king in forthcoming films like Farhan Akhtar’s Don and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya respectively.
The effort is showing. Irani, who has always been known to tread that extra mile, recently shed 15 kgs for the part of Mahatma Gandhi in Feroze Khan’s play Mahatma vs Gandhi, to get into the skin of the character. ”The character has to make sense to you first. For my role in Munnabhai… I tried various looks before deciding to shave off my head. I knew it worked when people close to me failed to recognise me!” says the 44-year-old animatedly.
But amidst all the success, failures like Home Delivery also happen in fickle filmdom. ”I am proud of Home Delivery. Maybe, it didn’t do well, but I learnt so much,” he says.
Theatre is his other passion, he loves the thrill of performing live. ”It’s a greater kick than films; there’s a live audience to interact with,” says the actor, who has dabbled in everything from films and theatre to photography and ad films. ”I do what turns me on at that moment.” Photography was a full-fledged career before theatre and later, films. ”Now, I feel I belong to Bollywood and photography has turned into a hobby,” he says, adding, ”Maybe tomorrow I would be a cricket commentator if I felt like it.” We can barely wait.
Original article here