'My age became the biggest…': Boman Irani on how his age shaped his Bollywood journey

India.com

18-06-2025

In a world of glitz and glamour, where people are obsessed with youth and overnight fame, there is an actor who is Bollywood's glorious exception — a man who arrived late but left early impressions. He is none other than Boman Irani. For Boman, before the lights, camera, and rolling tape, his life revolved around a different lens — the one on his camera. However, when he started his journey in Bollywood with the film Josh in 2000, he left everyone's jaws dropped. Over the years, he became part of superhit films such as Munna Bhai MBBS, Don, 3 Idiots, Happy New Year, and more.
Now, Boman is all set to feature in his next project Detective Sherdil on Zee5 Global, which stars Diljit Dosanjh, Diana Penty, Banita Sandhu, Ratna Pathak Shah, and more. In a recent exclusive conversation with India.com, Boman talked about his upcoming film and also addressed the pressure of being a 'late boomer' in Bollywood.
When we asked him whether starting his career at 44 ever made him feel the pressure of entering the industry in his 40s — given the fact that Bollywood is an industry where youth is often equated with success, the actor replied, 'My age has been my advantage. People have always given a plus point for being and reinventing myself as an actor, writer, and a director as the years have gone by. So why should age have anything to do with my skills? My mind is youthful, and I'm happy about it!'
Coming back to Detective Sherdil, Boman shared insights about his role and screen time. With the trailer being released, Boman's character is shown as a rich head of the family who gets murdered in the first scene, leaving audiences curious about what comes next.
Talking about the role, Boman said, 'You are right, pehle hi scene mein Mr. Bhati (my character) gets murdered. But through the whole investigation, in the scenes where characters are being interrogated, he keeps coming through the film. He's right there till the end. Though it is not a very big role, I am happy to do it.'
He further added, 'Dekho, role ke length se main agar apna career judge karta toh main kuch nahi karta na life mein. So people have to understand that despite roles being small, you have to enjoy it.'
Meanwhile, Boman also made a powerful debut at Cannes 2025 to represent his film Tanvi The Great. For the last two decades, Boman has been enthralling his fans, and the audience wants to see more of him in future films!