‘Certain Relationships Are Too Difficult To Explain’

‘Two
males
in
the
same
house,
one
who
is
trying
to
become
a
man,
and
the
other
one
is
losing
his
manhood,
when
they
cross
paths,
it
can
be
a
tricky
situation.’

“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,”

Boman
Irani
tells

Subhash
K
Jha.

The
ace
actor
turns
director
with
the
OTT
movie,

The
Mehta
Boys,
where
he
plays
father
to
Avinash
Tiwary’s
character.

He
looks
back
at
the
film
and
its
making
and
feels,
“When
the
time
is
right,
that’s
the
time.”

You
took
your
time
to
turn
director.

Yes.
But
I
don’t
think
I’ve
taken
long.
Maybe
a
couple
of
years
here
and
there
to
put
the
project
together
but
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.
So
in
a
sense,
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.

I
feel,
no
harm,
who’s
keeping
track?

I
always
feel
that
when
the
time
is
right,
that’s
the
time.

Were
all
these
career
decisions
spontaneous?

Yes.
From
the
wafer
shop
days
to
the
photography
days,
to
my
theatre
days,
I’ve
been
picking
up
things
that
have
probably
helped
me
over
the
years
to
become
a
director
and
writer.

I
used
to
write
plays
when
I
was
young.

At
the
wafer
shop,
I
did
observational
work
as
an
actor
and
photographer.

All
that
I
learned
about
composition,
lighting
and
mood
probably
helped
me
in
direction.

Theatre
helped
me
with
drama
and
prep
for
actors.

It
took
me
about
10
years
to
piece
this
together
as
a
script.
Along
the
line,
I
studied
writing.

You
may
think
you’re
a
writer
but
you
don’t
have
the
science
of
a
writer.

The
Mehta
Boys
is,
in
many
ways,
a
self-assured
directorial
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
run-ins.
Luckily
for
us,
we
are
quick
sorters
of
problems.

I
did
a
lot
of
research
on
the
different
aspects
of
why
this
dynamic
(between
a
father
and
son)
is
so
strange
and
so
common.

Two
males
in
the
same
house,
one
who
is
trying
to
become
a
man,
and
the
other
one
is
losing
his
manhood,
when
they
cross
paths,
it
can
be
a
tricky
situation.

Was
Avinash
Tiwary
your
first
choice
to
play
your
son?

I
had
auditioned
a
few
but
I
think
it
worked
out
very
well.

One
of
the
big
tilting
factors
was
that
we
shared
a
nose.

But
that’s
not
the
reason
why
Avinash
got
cast.

I
think
he
did
an
extremely
varied
audition,
and
I
did
the
audition
with
him.

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
kind
of
reading,
another
interpretation.
Anything
I
threw
at
him
as
an
actor
or
director,
he
responded
magnificently.
So
yes,
it
is
a
no-brainer
once
I
saw
that
audition.

What
was
your
equation
with
Avinash
during
the
shooting,
and
after?

The
equation
is
great.
Apparently,
during
rehearsals,
he
thought
he
wasn’t
pleasing
me.

He
felt
I
was
not
happy
with
his
performance
during
the
rehearsal,
which
lasted
a
month-and-
a-half.

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.

Then,
on
the
set,
I
was
a
different
person.

Of
course,
I’m
not
going
to
take
away
your
power
on
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?

Khosla
Ka
Ghosla.
I
find
that
quite
deliciously
mean.

I’d
never
met
that
kind
of
person
before.

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.
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
is
his
fatal
flaw…

Once
I
get
these
little
things
into
my
system,
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
he
has
every
right
to
be
cranky.

He’s
not
being
unreasonable.
People
are
being
unreasonable
with
him
and
saying,
come
on,
it’s
late,
let’s
go
to
the
airport.
But
he
has
every
right
to
throw
a
tantrum.

So
it’s
a
wonderful
character.

I
love
the
old
man
with
all
his
flaws
and
his
methods
to
make
his
son
do
his
best.

Like,
he
pushes
the
boy
while
playing
cricket.
He
wants
to
still
be
a
man,
and
says,
let
me
see
if
I
can
still
hold
that
bat.
And
that
boy
insults
him
by
bowling
underarm.

But
the
thing
is,
all
his
life
he’s
ever
done
was
push
the
boy
—
‘Bowl
like
a
man,
bowl
like
a
man’.

You
can
actually
see
him
telling
Amay
in
a
flashback.

His
method
may
be
a
little
harsh,
and
you
end
up
getting
hurt.
That’s
why
that
scene
for
me
was
very
important.

My
favourite
sequence
is
the
one
where
you
tell
your
son’s
girlfriend
about
his
tutor.

That
is
one
of
my
favourite
scenes
also.

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.

Then
my
character
says
how
his
son
left
without
telling
him.

But
for
me,
one
of
the
most
beautiful
scenes
is
the
airport
sequence
when
Puja
Sarup,
who
plays
my
daughter,
stomps
around
and
lets
us
know
exactly
what
she
thinks
of
us
and
what
my
late
wife
Shivani
may
have
thought
of
us.
It
sets
up
the
conflict.

As
a
director,
I
think
I
love
the
cricket
scene
because
it
tells
you
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
left.

Why
a
father-son
directorial
debut?

I
don’t
know.
If
people
liked
the
film,
I
liked
it
for
the
same
reason.

And
it
needed
to
be
told
with
sensitivity,
not
paint
villains
and
not
villainise
anyone.

Because
all
of
us
may
be
nice
but
certain
relationships
are
just
too
goddamn
difficult
to
explain.

And
I
don’t
know
if
there
are
solutions.

That’s
the
point
the
film
was
making.