“I am enjoying the adulation”- Boman Irani 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, April 13, 2005 - 11:45 IST
He can easily be termed as the 'Daddy dearest' of today's generation of Bollywood…seen in myriad roles and having enacted each one with conviction, Boman Irani today has carved a niche for himself in Bollywood. Playing once again a 'proud papa' of Priyanka Chopra, Boman will be soon seen in Waqt. Here in an exclusive chat with IndiaFM, he speaks about how easy is it to make audiences laugh, his criteria of selecting roles and his process of delivering them …
Besides the fact that you are playing Priyanka Chopra's father, nothing much is known about your character…what is he like?
He is a loud, brazen, shameless, egotistical pain in the 'you know where'. And he has this one upmanship about him, so you can never win a battle against him on who is better. He really gets in the skin of Mr. Bachchan's character who tries to make a successful human being out of his son. And this guy keeps reminding him, that his son is a useless character because he himself has a wonderful daughter. The character is a reasonably an easy connect because we do have so many people like that around.
Lately, you have been playing daddy dearest a lot - how was it this time around with Priyanka?
Ya, haven't I? Hrithik now calls me 'papa Shergill'…c'mon I am not that old. Priyanka is a lovely girl; she is very pretty and sharp looking but then there is certain softness about her when you speak to her in person I enjoyed her company. Unfortunately we dint have many scenes together as again you can say I fortunately had many scenes with Mr. Bachchan.
How was your equation with Amitabh Bachchan?
I have to admit and be honest about it that for the first couple of days I was not myself on the sets. I like to be little gregarious and noisy on the sets and in his presence I would be a little quieter. But even if I was, I don't think he would have had a problem, he himself has an amazing sense of humour to which everybody is so glued to. The best thing about this film is that all the 5-6 of us were always in the same scene. So we were always shooting together. And over a period of time I got to know him a little better. The kind of energy he exudes in his work…how does he do it, he deserves all he has and more.
What are your criteria for selecting a role?
Like anybody will tell you, firstly the story has to be good, it has to be interesting and should be interestingly told. For me to select a role in an interesting story, it's important that I as an actor should be able to put subtleties, nuance to make the character more real or more believable.
How difficult is it to make people laugh?
I feel it is difficult to make people laugh if you are trying to make them laugh; it is easy to make them laugh if you are enjoying yourself. If you crack the character and make it believable then it is all the more easy to make people laugh, because then you understand the humour more that just reading it from the script given to you.
Each role you have enacted so far has had a distinct look, how involved are you in the look of your character?
With some directors I am involved in the look completely. To the least I feel it is very important to atleast sit and discuss the look of the character with the director. Its not only on the sets that the character develops it's a process that starts right from the time of script reading.
Since you are a theatre guy, how does it feel now that you have blended so beautifully in Bollywood?
Firstly, I am very proud that I have been able to straddle both the industries. I am very proud to be part of the Indian film industry, proud because I have been made part of the industry and that one cannot become on his own, you have to be accepted. There is a lot of affection that comes my way. I am enjoying the adulation; the affection and I make no secret about it.
Has the fact that you have broken the stereotypes of Bollywood been a calculated effort?
I don't believe it's a calculated effort. I need to enjoy my work and I do. Therefore I am oblivious of the calculation. I only try to do it, hopefully, as honestly as I can.
Any Bollywood idiosyncrasy that you like?
I find it wonderful that you are never late for a Bollywood party; there will be somebody or the other who will always come after you. Its pretty chilled out that way... people even come after midnight!
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