Veteran actor Boman Irani’s directorial debut The Mehta Boys released on Amazon Prime Video recently on February 7. Starring himself along with Avinash Tiwary and Shreya Chaudhry, the film is the story of a father and his son and their tumultuous relationship. In an interview with us, Irani spoke about the journey of making his first film and also looked back at his career.
You took your time to turn director. Der aaye durust aaye… Yes, you're absolutely right, der aaye durust aaye, lekin I don't think I've taken long. Maybe a couple of years here and there to put the project together, but I think everything happens with the right amount of maturity for the right kind of film. I don't think I would have made a film like The Mehta Boys, maybe, 15 years ago, for sure. So, in a sense, I think that timing is not there, it's on time.
You were a late bloomer as an actor also My timelines have always been a little out of sync with the rest of the world. I became a photographer at the age of 34, I joined the stage at 35, started doing commercial cinema at 44 and now I'm a debut director at 65. And I feel, no harm, who's keeping track? And because I always feel that when the time is right, that's the time. I think the time was perfect.
Were all these career decisions spontaneous? It's spontaneous, yes, absolutely. And I think along the way, from the wafer-shop days to the photography days, to my theatre days, I've been picking up things that probably have helped me over the years to become a director and a writer. I used to write plays when I was young, at the wafer shop I did observational work as an actor, as a photographer. All that I learned about composition, light, lighting and mood, probably helped me in my direction. Theatre helped me with drama and prep for actors. I think that theatre discipline definitely helps acting. And now, it took me about 10 years to piece this together as a script. And along the line, I studied writing. Which, you may think you're a writer, but you don't have the science of a writer. You might think you have the heart, and that comes naturally to a lot of people, but I think there's a science to writing. And that's what I picked up along the way before I actually was ready to make this film.
The Mehta Boys is in many ways, an astounding self-assured directorial debut Thank you for your words about the debut. A lot of it can come from a personal space, but definitely not a vitriolic space at all. I'm lucky to have two marvellous sons, and I have a superb relationship with them. But like any other relationship, there will be some kind of run-ins, but luckily for us, we are quick sorters of problems. And I did a lot of research. Parents, children, psychologists, psychiatrists did a reasonable amount of research to then embark on the different aspects of why this dynamic is so strange and so common. You can't run away from it. There is no way you can run away from this dynamic. If there was a way to figure it out, like a vaccine, we would have had a solution. But two males in the same house, one who is trying to become a man, and the other one losing his manhood. And when they cross paths, it can be a tricky situation.
Was Avinash Tiwari your first choice to play your son? Avinash, as a son, I had auditioned a few, but I think it worked out very well. One of the big tilting factors was that we also shared a nose. But that's not the reason why he got cast. I think he did an extremely varied audition. And I did the audition with him. I was the bounce board. He did it with somebody else, and then I called him over. And with every single reading, I would vary the pitch, pace, and tone, and the amplification of the scene. And with every single reading, it would be another reading, another kind of reading, another interpretation. And anything I threw at him as an actor or a director, he responded magnificently. So, in that sense, yes, it is a no-brainer once I saw that audition.
What was your equation with Avinash during the shooting, and after? Well, the equation is great. He apparently, during rehearsals, thought he wasn't pleasing me. It was not going well. He felt I was not happy with his performance during the rehearsal process, which was a month and a half. But yeah, maybe what we're looking for in rehearsals is to push you into corners that make you uncomfortable. I'm not a taskmaster in that sense. And then he says, on the set, suddenly I was a different person. Of course, I'm not going to take away your power on the set. I'm going to make you feel really good about you as a performer. But to find those dark spaces, rehearsal is the time, not the set. And that I was very, very clear.
Which is your favourite personal performance? I think Khosla Ka Ghosla would be my favourite performance. I find that quite deliciously mean. He was a new person. I'd never met that kind of person before. I started doing my research in Delhi on this character when I went for Khosla Ka Ghosla.
Your performance in The Mehta Boys is flawless. How do you succeed in giving performances beyond reproach time and time again? I don't know how I do it. I'm embarrassed answering this question about my performance being beyond reproach and how do I do it time and again. I guess, prep, research. In a character like this, there is no real research except for the fact that you've got to figure out what this man wants in life, where he is mentally, how fragile he is, what does he want, which is very clear, what does he need to do, which is very clear, what is his fatal flaw, which is very clear, and what is his wound, which is also pretty clear. Once I get these little things into my system, then everything else becomes external. This is the internal part, which I think is the difficult prep that one does. The old man is cranky, they say. I feel he's cranky from the perspective of a younger person. From an older person's perspective, he's really being uprooted, like an old oak tree being pulled out of its roots. So, I think he has every right to be cranky. He's not just cranky and unreasonable. Because people are being unreasonable with him and saying, come on, come on, it's late, let's go to the airport, he has every right to throw a tantrum. So, it's quite a wonderful character.
I love the old man with all his flaws and his methods to make his son do his best is what hurt him the most. Like he's pushing the boy while playing cricket. He wants to still be his last stand as a man. Let me go and see if I can still hold that bat. And that boy insults him by bowling underarm. So, that's one. But number two is all his life he's ever done was push the boy. Bowl like a man, bowl like a man. So you can actually see him in a flashback telling Amay to do that. And in the process, because his method may be a little harsh, you end up getting hurt. That's why that scene for me is very, very important.
My favourite sequence is the one where you tell your son’s girlfriend about his tutor. Which is yours? That is one of my favorite scenes also, co-incidentally. I love the tutor scene. Yes, it's lovely because it's not just a joke. There's hurt at the end of it, which is the reversal in the scene where everything that's beautiful can turn to not so beautiful because there is a wound. And then my character talks about how his son left without telling him. So, that is a lovely scene. But for me, one of the most beautiful scenes is the airport sequence when Puja Sarup, who plays my daughter, stomps around and letting us know exactly what she thinks of us and what my late wife Shivani may have thought of us. And it sets up the conflict. I love that scene very much. But as a director, I think I love the cricket scene because it tells you so much more from what you see on the face of it. What you're seeing is something else, but it's saying something completely different. It's telling you what his relationship with his son may have been. And that was probably the reason why the son ran away or left.
Why a father-son directorial debut? I really don't know. If people liked the film, I liked it for the same reason that people liked the film and the story. And it needed to be told. It needed to be told with sensitivity and not paint villains and not villainize anyone. Because all of us may be nice, but certain relationships are just too goddamn difficult to explain. And definitely I don't know if there are solutions. And that's the point the film was making. Thank you so very much for listening to me.
Also Read: Boman Irani on his directorial debut ‘The Mehta boys’: “We’re all guilty of backseat driving as parents”
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