Boman Irani (born 2 December 1959) is an Indian actor, photographer and filmmaker. He is one of Hindi cinema’s best-known character actors, and his career is remarkable for how late it started: he was a hotel waiter, a shopkeeper and a professional photographer before he turned to theatre in his thirties and found film fame only at 44. His roles as Dr Asthana in Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. and the college director “Virus” in 3 Idiots are among the most popular of the 2000s.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Boman Irani |
| Born | 2 December 1959, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
| Age | 66 |
| Occupation | Actor, photographer, director |
| Years active | 2000–present (film) |
| Known for | Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., Khosla Ka Ghosla, 3 Idiots, Jolly LLB |
| Education | St. Mary’s School, Mumbai; Mithibai College |
| Spouse | Zenobia Irani (m. 1985) |
| Children | 2 sons (Danesh and Kayoze) |
Early Life
Irani was born into a Parsi family in Mumbai. His father died a few months before he was born, and his mother ran the family’s small wafer and snack shop to bring up her children. As a boy he had dyslexia and a lisp, and he has spoken of how his mother sent him to watch films again and again so that he could study acting, music and camera work. He attended St. Mary’s School and then took a two-year course to train as a waiter at Mithibai College.
He worked for about two years at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, starting in room service and rising to the hotel’s French restaurant. When his mother had an accident he left to run the family shop, where he stayed behind the counter for some fourteen years.
Career
In 1987 he began to work as a photographer, starting with school sports days and moving on to professional assignments, including a boxing World Cup held in Mumbai. In the early 1990s the choreographer Shiamak Davar introduced him to the theatre director Alyque Padamsee, who cast him in the play Roshni. He went on to act in many English-language productions; the comedy I’m Not Bajirao ran for about ten years.
After small parts in Everybody Says I’m Fine! and Let’s Talk, he was cast by Rajkumar Hirani as the short-tempered dean J. C. Asthana in Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003), opposite Sanjay Dutt. The film’s success made him a familiar face overnight. He played the Sikh builder Lucky Singh in the sequel Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) and the land shark Khurana in Dibakar Banerjee’s Khosla Ka Ghosla the same year.
Through the next decade he appeared in many of the industry’s biggest films: Main Hoon Na, Veer-Zaara, the two Don films with Shah Rukh Khan, Dostana, Housefull and Happy New Year. His performance as Viru Sahastrabuddhe, the rigid engineering college director in 3 Idiots (2009) with Aamir Khan, won him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor. He played the lead in Shyam Benegal’s Well Done Abba (2010) and the lawyer Rajpal in Jolly LLB (2013), and later appeared in PK, Uunchai (2022) and Dunki (2023).
He set up a production company, Irani Movietone, and a free screenwriting workshop called Spiral Bound, which he began during the pandemic. His first film as director, The Mehta Boys, a father-and-son drama that he co-wrote with the Oscar-winning screenwriter Alexander Dinelaris and in which he also acted, was released on Amazon Prime Video in 2025.
Personal Life
He married Zenobia, whom he met when she came to his shop as a customer, in 1985. They have two sons, Danesh and Kayoze; Kayoze Irani is an actor and director. He is a trained singer and a popular host of award shows.
Awards
Selected Filmography
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Boman Irani born?
Boman Irani was born on 2 December 1959 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India and is 66 years old.
What is Boman Irani known for?
Known for: Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., Khosla Ka Ghosla, 3 Idiots, Jolly LLB.
Featured image: Boman Irani on the green carpet at the IIFA Awards, MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, July 2017. Photo by Laura Lee Dooley, licensed under CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
