Revision as of 21:36, 23 October 2014

The man

Boman Irani: I have never seen a photograph of my father

Priya Gupta,TNN | Oct 24, 2014

Boman Irani (born 1959) is emotional, loyal and cuddly, who can cry possibly watching even Tom and Jerry. He started his life as a waiter, went on to becoming a photographer, did theatre and finally made his debut in Bollywood at the age of 44 with Raju Hirani's Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. Ahead of his upcoming dance heist film Happy New Year, he talks about the extremely driven Shah Rukh Khan, his soulmate and wife Zenobia and how he has landed up doing in his life professionally what his father did as a hobby.

Early life

He was born and brought up in Nagpada in Mumbai. His mom brought him up as a single parent as his father died before he was born. Post school, he worked as a waiter for two years at Hotel Taj Mahal, Colaba, till the age of 21. They had a small shop, where his father used to manufacture potato wafers. His mother was indisposed, so he joined the family business that was really a small bhatti, to look after it, till his mom could come back to looking after it. It was also here that he met his wife Zenobia. She was a customer at the shop from where she became a frequent customer, then a daily customer and before they knew it, they got married when he was 25 and had two sons.

About five years after his marriage, he decided to take up photography as he loved it very much. It was also a creative outlet for him and he started by shooting sports events. he also freelanced for the TOI, where if The Times of India photographer did not come, he would double up. he made a little money and realised that he could buy a lens out of that and thought of making it a career. he went and trained in Chennai for two months, came back to Mumbai and then started working with advertising. he started with a sporty ad and then started shooting faces after which he got the chance to shoot for Miss India.

He shot the Femina Look of the Year and he was asked to do a portfolio for each of the contestants. Those pictures became a hit and he also started training the girls as he was very good at making them comfortable, making them do things and use some acting technique to relax. Diana Hayden used to be an assistant with Anaida, the singer. He felt that she should be in front of the camera and he shot her portfolio for Miss India. And she went on to becoming Miss World. he did about five Miss Indias and then became a part of the training programme and then became a part of the jury.

Theatre

It was when he was about 35 that Shiamak Davar introduced him to theatre and said, 'You are meant to be on stage.' He took him to Alyque Padamsee, who gave him his first role in a musical. It did great for him. And the next thing he knew is that other directors had approached him to do a talking part. he did a few plays like I'm Not Bajirao and Mahatma Vs Gandhi, where he played Gandhi and it did very well.

How he come into the films

He was offered his first film Let's Talk by Ram Madhvani from where Vidhu Vinod Chopra saw him and cast him for Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. he was 44 and had made his debut in the Hindi film industry.

His lowest period

Before he turned to photography, he was totally conflicted. he was married, was doing a great, honest job as a shopkeeper and was proud of myself, was content, but there was a roaring dragon waiting to explode in his stomach. It needed to explode. he would sit and write behind the cash counter and send his articles to the Times of India. he would write short stories, seeking his appreciation from Zenobia. His kids were growing up and they must have been like about five, he needed a little more money to give them a better life and at the same time, he had this dragon roaring inside him. When photography happened, the dragon came out, but financially it was tough. But he know that he would have been a miserable man had he not made that change. You may feel surprised, but his mother always knew about his talent and encouraged him to watch movies. She would tell him, 'Finish your homework and then go watch the movie again.' There was great wisdom in that.

Grwing up without a father

Boman says that it made no difference to him. Maybe once, when he went to school, he remembers one kid's father came in a jeep to pick him up and this kid told him how they were going out on the weekend on a wild lodge and maybe, Boman may have felt something missing. But it was difficult for his mother to bring her children up by herself. His father had died of nephritis, when he was just 28, the bills had piled up and she had three little girls and he was yet to be born to be looked after. he believes his father was a wonderful man. And while he has seen a charcoal drawing of his, he have never seen a photograph of his father, though his father was a photographer by hobby and was also a super writer and speaker.