Mumbai: Boman Irani turns a year old today. Some of his memorable performances include Munnabhai MBBS, 3 Idiots, Jolly LLB and Sanju. Boman stepped into Hindi film industry at an age when the rest of the actors have spent more than half of their careers. Bowman is still counted as a successful actor. Let us tell you some interesting things related to him on his birthday.
While he was at school, he would watch movies at the Alexander Cinema almost every day. His mother often encouraged him to watch the movies repeatedly, to observe their cinematography and art. Irani’s father died six months before Irani was born, but had a namkeen shop, which his mother took over thereafter. Irani also worked at this shop on Grant Road till he was 32 years old. This ancestral bakery and namkeen shop was located in the Grant Road area of Mumbai, between Novelty and Apsara Cinemas, and was also where he first met his wife.
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While working at the Taj, using the tips that he received, Irani bought a camera and took sports pictures (school cricket and football matches), selling them for twenty to thirty rupees.
Irani continued to be a photographer for much of his early adult life. At the age of 32, six months prior to the World Boxing Championships, Irani went to Mumbai to meet Aspy Adajania, the then president of the Olympic Boxing Association of India, and requested him to become the official photographer of the competition.
When Adajania told him there was no need for him, Irani offered to work at his office for six months for free in return for a ring-side badge to cover the event. He continued to try to convince Adajania, and covered a state boxing match in a different manner than other photographers. Adajania was impressed by his photos and his passion and appointed Irani as the official photographer.
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Meanwhile, he became the photographer for the Norwegian boxing team.
One day he met choreographer Shyamak Davar. Shyamak advised him to work in the theater. Shyamak introduced him to Alyque Padamsee. Boman’s earliest theatrical appearance was in Roshni where he played a cameo at the Regional Theatre in Versova. He followed this up with serials like Family Ties and Mahatma vs Gandhi, playing Gandhi after the role was turned down by Darshan Jariwala. His most illustrious play to date is I am not Bajirao which ran for 10 years. He later moved to films in 2000.
His small but significant role in Darna Mana Hai earned him acclaim.
He launched his production house Irani Movietone 24 January 2019. The logo was unveiled by Amitabh Bachchan.
