"Initial cinema entry ( 2003) Darna Mana Hai was his very first outing in commercial cinema; the anthology horror thriller saw Boman Irani sharing the screen with Saif Ali Khan in the second segment film of the series ‘No Smoking’ where he portrayed a psychic manager of a roadside inn, the character .. Read More
"Initial cinema entry ( 2003) Darna Mana Hai was his very first outing in commercial cinema; the anthology horror thriller saw Boman Irani sharing the screen with Saif Ali Khan in the second segment film of the series ‘No Smoking’ where he portrayed a psychic manager of a roadside inn, the character played by Irani was well noted and also No Smoking went on to be declared the best segment in the movie. Irani came back shortly with a significant role in Rajkumar Hirani’s Comedy drama Munna Bhai M.B.B.S, the movie starring Sanjay Dutt had him playing the role of Dr Asthana which turned out to be a huge turnaround for Boman Irani as his popularity rocketed instantly with him being nominated for the category of Best Comedian in The Filmfare Awards that year in 2003. After which many comical roles came Irani’s way in the subsequent years; the character of the easygoing principal in Mai Hoon Na was the first among the series of next films in Irani’s career which was followed by Farhan Aktar’s Lakshya; this time around he was a cast in a more serious role where he played Hrithik Roshan’s father. Boman Irani in the same year did a supporting cameo in Yash Chopra’s Veer-Zaara. The year 2005 saw him continuing with his character roles and comic avatars with commercial hits like No Entry, and he got a chance to work in Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara, a critical hit amongst the audience. Page 3 which went on to get a National Film Award had Boman Irani playing the lead along with Konkana Sen Sharma and Atul Kulkarni. Irani was then called upon by director Shashi Rajan for his shelved project Mungerilal Rocks; an Indo/Pak production in which Irani was cast to act alongside Rajpal Yadav and Johnny Lever in a key role in 2005, which they could not commence for some unknown reasons after the initial announcement. My Wife’s Murder was his next release, the Anil Kapoor starrer and then he completed his films in 2005 with Waqt: The Race Against Time. Where he came up with yet another supporting character. 2006 was a much better year for Irani as he went on to be cast in a negative role in Dibakar Banerjee’s directorial debut Khosla Ka Ghosla opposite Anupam Kher where he delivered a standout performance in the classic comedy drama. The cult movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai; the sequel to Munna Bhai M.B.B.S saw Irani joining hands with the same team but this time not repeating his character from the prequel instead he did a very prominent part of the main subplot where he played a villainous tricky businessman, which also got him much acclaim thus continuing his transition to more serious roles over the period. Next Irani reprised the legendary antagonist character DCPD’Silva aka Vardhaan In the remake of yesteryear classic Don 2 starring Shahrukh Khan, which proved to be a turning point for Irani as the character turned out to be a revelation, which was an awe-inspiring change for an actor who was mostly limited to Character roles till then. Irani’s confident and hateful characterization made sure that Irani stood toe to toe with King Khan throughout the movie. 2007 saw Irani coming up with the Academy Award-nominated Hindi movie Ekalavya, although a commercial disaster. Shortly after which released the Ensemble road movie Honeymoon Travels Pvt.Ltd in which Irani was seen as a middle-aged man who sets out on a late honeymoon with his second wife amidst five other couples. The other releases of the year like Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal and Hey Baby were not very beneficial from Irani’s perspective as it ended as average outings. Yuvvraaj, Kismat Konnection, Sorry Bhai, and Maharathi were Irani’smajor releases in 2008 which could not contribute to Irani’s career in a significant way; all of them panning out to be just moderate films except for Dostana which became a high-grosser and opened to tremendous reviews although Irani did not have many parts to play in it thus making it an uneventful year for him virtually. Major career break in 3 Idiots (2009) After some side-lined performances in movies like Kambakkht Ishq, Luck By Chance and Perfect Mismatch; 2009 finally proved to be a game changer for Irani after Maestro Shyam Benegal gave Irani the lead character in Well Done Abba; a satire which went on to fetch the National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues, which saw Boman Irani coming out to deliver a master class act where he was heavily complimented for his epic comic timing and counters. But Irani’s career-best performance without a doubt came later that year after being cast as “Virus” the obsessive authoritative principle of an engineering college where he was seen collaborating with his long-time friend Rajkumar Hirani in the Aamir Khan starrer satirical comedy 3 Idiots; discussing the overtly pressurized education system in India these days and also the value of following your heart in life’s decisions, Irani got to perform the character to the fullest potential where he effortlessly portrayed the complexities and also got to show minimum emotions in most junctures of the movie where the character demanded it so making it a heartfelt and highly intense performance. 3 Idiots was the highest-grossing film of Bollywood for a long time and is also considered one of the best movies of this decade. The downward dip in acting career (2010 -2016) 2010 saw Irani appearing in special cameo in movies like Teen Patti, Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai and poor outings like Hum Tum Aur Ghost and Mirch and could find consolation in the commercial success of Housefull where he acted in yet another supporting role with Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal and Riteish Deshmukh which despite negative reviews procured a heavy box office return. In 2011 which passed on without much fuss for Irani until Don 2; the sequel to Don, garnered Irani an IIFA Award for Best Negative Role continuing his streak from where he left off in the prequel though Irani was struggling to keep his career strong-footed with declining movie offers and repeated special appearances which were doing him no good. Ferrari Ki Sawaari in 2012 gave him some respite but Irani was seen hugely underperforming as an actor with a clear reduction in screen appearances, the ensemble cast thriller Tezz where he appeared as a railway control officer who is left to deal with a bomb threat in a train was a bit of a relief but the brilliant actor in Irani was not getting the best of characters during which time he started to concentrate more on theatre activities for which he could not leave aside time for a long time since the entry into cinema. Meanwhile, he continued playing supporting characters in movies like Cocktail after which Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi in which he co-starred with director Farah Khan, where he essayed the title role of a middle-aged man who falls in love with a 40-year woman in the funny backdrop. The movie was a critical and commercial super hit which brought Irani right back on track after which came the successful court drama Jolly L L B. Irani also tried his luck in Telugu Film Industry the same year with a supporting role in Attarintiki Daredi with Pawan Kalyan, playing his grandfather in the movie which received innumerable Awards and was a hit in Telegu. Bhootnath Returns in 2014 saw Irani pairing with Amitabh Bachchan; the political satire also turned out to be a well-accepted movie. Boman Irani once again became a part of the blockbusters PK and Happy New Year in 2014 with Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan respectively; the two all-time best-grossers of Indian cinema in his forte playing comical characters. After a second Telegu outing in 2015 with Bengal Tiger following which he came back to home turf in Rohit Shetty's directorial Dilwale in a supporting role. Santa Banta Pvt.Ltd, Housefull 3, The Legend of Michael Mishra and he appeared finally in the ensemble cast Marathi film Ventilator, which was his latest release that opened to critical and commercial acclaim."
