He is funny, witty, intelligent and happy-go-lucky — meet Boman Irani, who calls himself the mast-mast man in Bollywood! Irani, who gave remarkable performances in Darna Mana Hai, Munnabhai series, Don series, Housefull series, Being Cyrus, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Heyy Babyy, 3 Idiots, Well Done Abba, Jolly llB, Happy New Year and much more, is all set to prove himself yet again with his upcoming big banner movies.
“I have started shooting for Dilwale with Shah Rukh and Rohit Shetty and also signed up for Housefull 2. But the one which I’m eagerly waiting for has a big feature role and it’s exciting and challenging than the run-of-the-mill characters that we get to play every so often. I’m yet to sign that film therefore it’s too early to talk about it,” Irani says.
Though Irani doesn’t want to spill the beans about his much touted project, another big news that is making the rounds is the tele-series which he was offered by Ekta Kapoor.
“It is a surprise for me too. I have never heard about such a project being offered to me (laughs). But I’ll be more than happy to do tele-series. Being an actor should not mean that you have to work only in movies. It can be theatre, television, Hollywood or Bollywood movies. The format changes but the purpose of these platforms is to tell stories and playing variety of roles.
Even in commercials, we act at the end of the day. My plan is to first play out the chapter of cinema and then go ahead to the theatre. Eventually, that’s the circle of every actor. He has to go back to where he or she came from. Having said that, I don’t want to retire from cinema so soon. I still have time,” Irani says.
Being the brand ambassador of AmbiPur, Irani will be seen promoting their campaign — transforming smelly to smiley with AmbiPur. “We use AmbiPur in our house and my wife Zenobia is crazy about it. When I got a call to endorse this campaign, my wife was more keen and said that I should take this up. It’s something we connect with and it’s truly an effective product. Thus I couldn’t say no to it,” he tells you.
Some people hate the smell of cooking garlic, cooking oils, fish, etc but for Irani, it’s the smell of tadka that makes him escape the scene. “I love the smell of food and often go to the kitchen to check on what’s cooking. One smell that I can’t stand at all is the smell of tadka in the food. I feel that the tadka smell gets settled inside the hair. So I just run out of the kitchen. Also the smelly feet is a big turn off for me,” the actor confesses.
For him, one smell that he loves the most is the first rain of the season. “You can create the smell of lavender, rose, jasmine but nobody can ever create the smell of the first rain that falls on the soil. It’s so natural and has its own charm,” he says.
Known to be a spontaneous actor, who has done over 65 movies in a span of 15 years, Irani confesses that he never felt dejected because of any important project being called off or him not being offered a variety of roles on the big screens.
“When it comes to work, I never feel sad about interesting role or project which failed to take off. One should not complain about something which didn’t happen. In my case, I have been fortunate enough that whenever I said no to any role or project being put on hold, the other opportunities popped up the next day. If the project didn’t happen it’s ok. It’s not the end of the world,” the 55-year-old actor tells you.
What worries Irani the most is the health and well being of his family and news related to terrorism and death that flashes every day on TV. “On the personal front, I do get worried about my parent’s health. last year, the Peshawar attack made a lot of people depressed for days and created the fear in the mind of the people who send their child to the schools for studies,” Irani says.
Whether it’s about working on an advertisement or shooting for films, Irani always believes in keeping himself on his toes by taking up a lot of interesting projects. “I find sitting at home extremely boring. People should keep their mind active by taking up interesting projects and pushing themselves to explore their potential. But it’s also very important to take time out for your family and for yourself,” Irani says.
