# Boman Irani

Boman Irani (born 2 December 1959) is an Indian actor and comedian who works primarily in Hindi-language films. One of the most popular character actors in Hindi cinema, he has featured in over 100 films, and is the recipient of a Filmfare Award and two IIFA Awards.
Some of his notable works include Munna Bhai MBBS (2003), Veer-Zaara, Main Hoon Na, Lakshya (all 2004), No Entry (2005), Lage Raho Munna Bhai, Don (both 2006), Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006), Heyy Babyy (2007), Dostana (2008), 3 Idiots (2009), Housefull (2010), Don 2 (2011), Housefull 2, Cocktail (both 2012), Jolly LLB (2013), PK, Happy New Year (both 2014), Dilwale (2015), Housefull 3 (2016), Sanju (2018), Total Dhamaal (2019), 83 (2021), Uunchai (2022) and Dunki (2023). He made his directorial debut with the self-starring drama The Mehta Boys (2025).

## Early life

Irani was born on 2 December 1959, in Mumbai to an Irani Zoroastrian family. His father died 6 months before Irani was born. He has 3 elder sisters: Shirin, Shenaz and Roshan. Irani grew up with dyslexia in his childhood, which he eventually overcame.
He finished his secondary schooling at St. Mary's School, after which he undertook a 2-year waiter course at Mithibai College in Mumbai. Irani also managed a bakery and namkeen shop in Mumbai that was run by his mother, Jerbanoo. She died in June 2021 at 94.

## Career
### Photography career

While working at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, he took photos of school cricket and football matches and sold them for 20 to 30 rupees, which he continued to do up until his marriage. Irani continued to work as a photographer, and asked the then President of the Indian Boxing Association, Aspy Adajania if he could become the photographer for the World Boxing Championships in Mumbai. When Adajania initially rejected him, Irani agreed to work at his office in-return to cover the event. He continued to cover other state boxing matches, until he was finally appointed by Adajania as the official photographer for the Indian Boxing Association.
Irani would also go on to become the photographer for the Norwegian Boxing Team and photograph specific photos that were needed of Norwegian boxer, Ole Klemetsen. Irani took the photos with his Pentax K1000 camera.

### Theatrical career (1981–1983)

During his school days, Irani had a passion for acting, where he trained under acting coach Hansraj Siddhia from 1981 to 1983.
Irani was mentored by actor Alyque Padamsee. Irani's appeared in many theater plays such as Roshni, which was played at the Regional Theater in Versova. He also acted in many TV serials such as Family Ties and Mahatma vs Gandhi, playing Gandhi after the role was turned down by actor Darshan Jariwala.

### Film career (2000–present)

Irani moved to on-screen acting in 2000. He appeared in a number of commercials for Fanta, Ambuja Cements and CEAT Limited.
His small but significant role in Darna Mana Hai earned him critical acclaim. The film was declared a hit, and he was seen in a segment featuring Saif Ali Khan. Irani gained attention for his role in the 2003 comedy Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.. His role as J. Asthana earned him a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role. He would go on to star in its sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai for which he received several IIFA award nominations. He also starred in the comedy-drama 3 Idiots opposite Aamir Khan which earned him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Screen Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role.
In addition to acting, Irani has hosted the IIFA Awards on various occasions. He also hosted the quiz show Bollywood Ka Boss. He has also appeared in Kaun Banega Crorepati with Sanjay Dutt, and has featured in various commercials.
He launched his production house Irani Movietone in January 2019. In the same year, Irani played the role of Dr. Balraj Kapoor in the web series Masoom.
Boman Irani is also a brand ambassador for Puri Oil, Exotica, Kent RO, Ahead NGO, and Saffola. He is also on the Board of Advisors of India's International Movement to Unite Nations (I.I.M.U.N.).

## Ventures
### Irani Movietone

Founded by Boman Irani in 2019, Irani Movietone is a film production cum creative house that specialises in providing advertising and branding solutions in all media formats. Sugar Cosmetics, JSW One, PMark Mustard Oil and Quench Botanics are some of the notable clients who advertising with Irani Movietone.
‘The Mehta Boys’ is its first feature film production directed by Boman Irani and written by Alexander Dinelaris and Boman Irani. The film has been released on Amazon Prime Video.

### Spiral Bound

In 2020, Irani began a masterclass named Spiral Bound with the aim of uniting amateur and professional screenwriters. Screenwriter Alexander Dinelaris conducted the first workshop of Spiral Bound. The masterclass continued in online sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guest speakers included playwright Anosh Irani and directors Rajkumar Hirani, Ram Madhvani, and Shakun Batra. Spiral Bound has completed more than 500 sessions.

## Filmography
### As actor

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2001 | Everybody Says I'm Fine! | Resomon Mittal | |
| 2002 | Let's Talk | Nikhil Sharma | |
| 2003 | Darna Mana Hai | Hotel Owner | Story segment: No Smoking |
| 2003 | Boom | Diamond Dealer | |
| 2003 | Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. | Dr. Jagdish Chandra "JC" Asthana | |
| 2004 | Main Hoon Na | Principal Yogesh Agarwal | |
| 2004 | Lakshya | Sanjeev Shergill | |
| 2004 | Veer-Zaara | Jahangir Hayaat Khan | |
| 2005 | Page 3 | Deepak Suri | |
| 2005 | Waqt: The Race Against Time | Natham "Nattu" Singh | |
| 2005 | My Wife's Murder | Inspector Tejpal Randhawa | |
| 2005 | No Entry | Minister Pranab Kumar "PK" Gupta | |
| 2005 | Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara | Public Prosecutor Avinash Roy | |
| 2005 | Home Delivery: Aapko... Ghar Tak | Michael Burnett / Santa Claus | |
| 2005 | Kal: Yesterday and Tomorrow | Yashwant Dayal Singh | |
| 2005 | Bluffmaster | Dr. Vijay Bhalerao | |
| 2005 | Mr Prime Minister | Member of Parliament | |
| 2005 | Being Cyrus | Farokh Sethna | English film |
| 2006 | Shaadi Se Pehle | Dr. Rustam Ali | |
| 2006 | Pyare Mohan | Tony Dholakia | |
| 2006 | Yun Hota To Kya Hota | DCP Amarkant Chauhan | |
| 2006 | Lage Raho Munna Bhai | Lakhbir "Lucky" Singh | |
| 2006 | Khosla Ka Ghosla | Kishan Khurana | |
| 2006 | Don – The Chase Begins Again | Vardhan Makhija/P De Silva | |
| 2007 | Eklavya: The Royal Guard | Rana Jayavardhan Singh | |
| 2007 | Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. | Oscar Fernandes | |
| 2007 | Heyy Babyy | Bharat Sahni | |
| 2007 | Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal | Tony Singh | |
| 2008 | Love Story 2050 | Professor Yatin Khanna | |
| 2008 | Kismat Konnection | Rajiv Batra | |
| 2008 | Dostana | Murali "M" Lokhande | |
| 2008 | Yuvvraaj | Dr. Pravin Kant "PK" Banton | |
| 2008 | Sorry Bhai! | Naveen Mathur | |
| 2008 | Maharathi | Avvaldas "AD" Merchant | |
| 2009 | Luck by Chance | Deenaz Aziz | |
| 2009 | Little Zizou | Boman Pressvala | |
| 2009 | 99 | Rahul Mehrotra | |
| 2009 | Kambakkht Ishq | Dr. Sachin Mishra | |
| 2009 | Perfect Mismatch | Naresh Patel | |
| 2009 | Fruit and Nut | Maharaja Harry Holkar | |
| 2009 | 3 Idiots | Dr. Viru "Virus" Sahastrabuddhe | |
| 2010 | Well Done Abba | Arman/Rahman Ali | |
| 2010 | Hum Tum Aur Ghost | Virendra Kapoor | |
| 2010 | Mirch | Ashmit "Aasu" Hotmal | |
| 2010 | Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai | Ali | |
| 2010 | Housefull | Batuk Patel | |
| 2011 | F.A.L.T.U | Principal Karam Sharma | |
| 2011 | Game | Om Prakash "OP" Ramsay | |
| 2011 | Love Breakups Zindagi | Ranveer | |
| 2011 | Don 2: The King is Back | Vardhan Makhija/P De Silva | |
| 2012 | Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu | Sushil Kapoor | |
| 2012 | Housefull 2 | Batuk Patel | |
| 2012 | Tezz | Sanjay Raina | |
| 2012 | Ferrari Ki Sawaari | Behram Ardeshir Deboo | |
| 2012 | Cocktail | Randhir "Randy" Kapoor | |
| 2012 | Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi | Farhad Ahmed | |
| 2012 | Student of the Year | Harikishan Sanon | Cameo |
| 2013 | Jolly LLB | Advocate Tejinder Rajpal | |
| 2013 | Attarintiki Daredi | Raghunath "Raghu" Nandan | Telugu film |
| 2014 | Youngistaan | PM Dashrath Kaul | Cameo |
| 2014 | Bhoothnath Returns | Bhushan Sharma / Bhausaheb | |
| 2014 | Happy New Year | Tehamton "Tammy" Irani | |
| 2014 | PK | Cherry Bajwa | Special appearance |
| 2015 | Bengal Tiger | CM Ashok Gajapathi | Telugu film |
| 2015 | Dilwale | King | |
| 2016 | Santa Banta Pvt Ltd | Santeshwar Singh Solaid / Santa | |
| 2016 | Housefull 3 | Batuk Patel | |
| 2016 | The Legend of Michael Mishra | Full Pant (HP) / Older Half Pant | |
| 2016 | Ventilator | Dr. Sairam Sukhranjan | Marathi film |
| 2017 | FU: Friendship Unlimited | Bulmukand | |
| 2018 | Agnyaathavaasi | Govind "Vinda" Bhargav | Telugu film |
| 2018 | Naa Peru Surya, Naa Illu India | Colonel Sanjay Shrivastav | Telugu film |
| 2018 | Parmanu: The Story of Pokhran | Himanshu Shukla | |
| 2018 | Sanju | Captain Homi Irani, Dr. Jagdish Chandra (JC) Asthana in an archive footage | Cameo |
| 2018 | Welcome to New York | Gurwinder "Garry" Sandhu | |
| 2018 | Khajoor Pe Atke | Abhishek Zaveri | |
| 2019 | Total Dhamaal | Commissioner Shamsher "Don" Singh | |
| 2019 | PM Narendra Modi | Ratan Tata | |
| 2019 | Jhalki | Kailash Satyarthi | |
| 2019 | Kaappaan | Rajan Mahadev | Tamil film |
| 2019 | Made in China | Dr. Shankar Vardhi | |
| 2019 | Drive | Irfan Ali Mohammed | |
| 2020 | Maska | Himself | |
| 2021 | 83 | Farokh Engineer | |
| 2022 | Runway 34 | Nishant Suri | |
| 2022 | Jayeshbhai Jordaar | Samarth Parekh | |
| 2022 | Uunchai | Javed Siddiqui | |
| 2023 | Dunki | Geetendar "Geetu" Gulati | |
| 2025 | The Mehta Boys | Mr. Shiv Mehta | Also Director |

### As dubbing artist

* Teen Patti (2010) for Ben Kingsley

## Awards

| Year | Award Show | Category | Film | Outcome |
| 2004 | Filmfare Awards | Best Comedian | Main Hoon Na | Nominated |
| 2004 | Filmfare Awards | Best Comedian | Munnabhai M.B.B.S. | Nominated |
| 2004 | IIFA Awards | Best Actor in a Comic Role | Munnabhai M.B.B.S. | Yes |
| 2004 | Screen Awards | Best Comedian | Munnabhai M.B.B.S. | Yes |
| 2004 | Zee Cine Awards | Best Actor in a Comic Role | Munnabhai M.B.B.S. | Nominated |
| 2006 | IIFA Awards | Best Performance in a Comic Role | Waqt: The Race Against Time | Nominated |
| 2007 | Filmfare Awards | Best Villain | Lage Raho Munnabhai | Nominated |
| 2007 | IIFA Awards | Best Performance in a Negative Role | Lage Raho Munnabhai | Nominated |
| 2007 | Global Indian Film Awards | Best Actor in A Comic Role | Lage Raho Munnabhai | Nominated |
| 2007 | Stardust Awards | Best Performance in a Negative Role | Lage Raho Munnabhai | Nominated |
| 2008 | Producers Guild Film Awards | Best Actor in a Comic Role | Dostana | Nominated |
| 2010 | Filmfare Awards | Best Supporting Actor | 3 Idiots | Yes |
| 2010 | Screen Awards | Best Villain | 3 Idiots | Yes |
| 2010 | IIFA Awards | Best Performance in a Negative Role | 3 Idiots | Yes |
| 2011 | Zee Cine Awards | Best Actor in a Comic Role | Well Done Abba | Yes |
| 2012 | IIFA Awards | Best Performance in a Negative Role | Don 2 | Nominated |
| 2014 | Stardust Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Happy New Year | Nominated |
| 2014 | Bollywood Hungama Surfers' Choice Movie Awards | Best Comedian | PK | Nominated |