Boman Irani turned director with 'The Mehta Boys' a poignant film exploring the complex relationship between a father and son, and the way that relationship unfurls when they are forced to spend 48 hours together. In this episode of Tell Me All, The Quint spoke to the actor-turned-director about his directorial debut, why he had a 'nervous' childhood, working in the wafer shop owned by his mother, a film that changed the way the industry perceived him, the suffering quality of content due to quantity, and more.
The actor-turned-director reflects on his childhood as a 'nervous' time in his life. "I was very protected as a child. My father passed away before I was born, so all the women in the house used to mollycoddle me a lot."
The actor also recalls people feeling sorry for him and calling him 'bechara' because he lost his father.
"I also had a speech defect and I used to stammer a lot. So, I was shy to speak in public. I lived in fear for some reason, that I can't explain," he added.
The actor said his mother encouraging him to go on stage, watch films helped him during his childhood, "My mother used to make a list of films my father and she watched together, and she would send me to watch them. She used to ask me questions about the film and the characters. She asked all the right questions." The actor found solace in 'the dark room of a theatre."
Speaking to the 'Munna Bhai M.B.B.S' actor about the ever evolving landscape of content creation, the actor said, "There is so much content; it’s good for work but sometimes it is difficult to control quality." He also shared his opinion on the industry being streamlined," I shot for 'Don' and 'Honeymoon Travels' at the same time. But now a film schedule gets over and you don't have to do 15 films and go from one film to the other and it can take 3 years for a film to get made."
Director Sujoy Ghosh narrated one line to Irani 15 years ago and 'The Mehta Boys’ was born. When asked about what resonated with him enough to direct this film, he said,"I had a tear in my eye, when he said that line. The challenge was how to fill it up with 2 hours because you can't for people. The conflict should keep in turning over, to keep people engaged."
The film released on 7 February on Amazon Prime.
Location: Eve, Santacruz