Boman Irani refuses to call himself a senior actor: 'People will say are you trying to retire?'

Actor Boman Irani recently gave a speech and got felicitated at the British Parliament and the Oxford. He was at the Indo-UK Summit with IIMUN. Looking back, he calls London ‘extraordinary’. Also read | Boman Irani pens a letter to his 25-year-old self: I would tell him the same thing I tell myself even today

Boman on being felicitated in the UK

“I was awestruck entering the walls of the UK Parliament. People from the House of Lords and House Commons spoke too. I spoke about our country and the impact it has on the rest of the world, whether it’s our yoga, culture, customs, festivals, colours, costumes or food, and how we must look at the world through an Indian lens,” he says.

So did Boman Irani inspire the English people with his wisdom? “I don’t know if I inspired English people. The endeavour was to impress youngsters, and keep reminding each other that we are ambassadors of our country representing our values, our customs . The British diaspora was very keen to hear what we had to say,” he added, looking back at his memorable talk.

‘I’m debuting as a director at 64’

While his words of wisdom came from the noteworthy work he’s done on the Indian silver screen, Irani refuses to call himself a ‘senior actor’ even after two decades in the industry. “When you say that, everybody alludes ‘are you trying to retire?’ I am still discovering myself. I’m debuting as a director at 64. Who does that?” Irani told us.

The actor entered films at 44 and never looked back. Calling it the perfect timing, he believes that even if he took up acting early, he wouldn’t have played the “hero”. “Imagine I joined the industry at 24, you think I could’ve managed to look like a hero? No!,” he said.

“[But] It definitely gave me a chance to do complex characters that I could mould, create, give them different looks - make them bald or long haired, much older or even younger,” Irani added.

As an advice, he feels the younger generation needs to “learn their lines, rehearse, and be technically sound,” so that they aren’t concentrating on 500 other things while giving a shot. He asserted, “Enjoy the fame but don’t let it overshadow your job.”

Raju Hirani's ‘lucky charm’?

Irani’s words come from a place of playing unique and varied characters in films like Lakshya (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), Bluffmaster (2005), Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006), Don franchise, Luck By Chance (2009) and Happy New Year (2014).

But his association with filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani is the high point. Would he call himself Hirani’s “lucky charm”? “I don’t think so. I’m just grateful that he gives me enough time to work on my roles. I’m just a cog in the wheel,” he stated.

Interestingly, Irani has played an educator in three Hirani films - Munna Bhai MBBS (2003), 3 Idiots (2009) and Dunki (2023), each one with a different value system. “It doesn’t matter whether you play 10 police officers. I do not judge the character by the profession. I judge him by his world view, temperament, flaws,” Irani opined.