Boman Irani as Lucky Singh in Lage Raho Munnabhai and (below) as Kishen Khurana in Khosla Ka Ghosla

Are you sure you are a Parsi? Boman Irani, better known as Lucky Singh these days, still can’t get over this SMS sent by some known face in Bollywood — “why take his name?” — a few hours after the release of Lage Raho Munnabhai.

“I am so glad and relieved brother,” mutters Boman, a heavy sigh later. “From one Munnabhai to another, it was a big challenge. And I am proud of it. I have always been a happy guy but now I am really high.”

But why not reprise Dr Asthana? “At the outset, we had decided that there should be no old wine in new bottle,” Boman reveals, in a lengthy cell phone chat from Mumbai. “There’s no use using things that have worked. So Asthana (his character in Munnabhai MBBS) was history and we started working on Lucky Singh from scratch.”

This was the first time that Boman was playing a Sardar. “I decided to hang out with a group of Sardarjis to prepare for the role and it was an absolute joy to be with them… They are very giving, have nothing to hide. They are gregarious, supportive and a lot of fun. There was an unwritten code between us that I shouldn’t make them look frivolous on screen. It was not only being respectful towards them but also for my sanity as an actor.”

And then director Raju Hirani took care of the image projection. “I would bring back all my experiences to him and he would try out all the possibilities,” Boman says. “But what I felt made all the difference is when Lucky Singh breaks down in the end (when daughter Dia Mirza runs away on her wedding night and blames her dad of duplicity). It’s like this big, huge guy becoming a child again. It’s like going back to the womb for him, catching up on lost innocence.”

While Boman argues that despite his aspirations and schemes, Lucky Singh was a good man inside, he quickly offers that his next character, that of builder Khurana in Khosla Ka Ghosla is a bloody rascal. “He is a heartless crook who sells plots of land, then usurps them and sells them back again,” he describes. “He is loud, aggressive, callous and very uncouth. Here too I had to do a lot of research for the part, besides gaining 10 kilos of weight.”

It was co-actor Anupam Kher who finally put his restless mind at ease. “On the first day of the shoot he watched me and said, ‘Boy you have got it right’,” Boman recounts. “I don’t know about others but I rely on encouragement. And it’s better to be disapproved straightaway by friends and co-stars, rather than wait for the movie to be released and then get disapproved. It’s all about pitching your character properly. Only then can you blossom as an actor.”

Khurana taken care of, Boman would reprise the role of the good cop played by Iftekhar in Farhan Akhtar’s Don. “I know the original film pretty well and so I didn’t have to watch it again,” he says. “It is pretty much the same character but it is very different because the overall look and feel is very slick… And what do I say about Shah Rukh? He is delightful. He is so involved in the making of the film and makes sure that everyone in and around the sets is happy, that no one should be left out.”

A complete departure from the super cool Don is the heart-warming Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd where Boman is paired opposite Shabana Azmi. “Oh, what an experience,” he exclaims. “It is truly gratifying to get to work with people like Shabana, Om Puri, Anupam Kher, Mr Bachchan, Naseer. And the best thing is despite working for so many years they do not take things easily. They put down their heads and venture into unknown territories.”

When quizzed about how he feels when someone like Naseeruddin Shah says that Boman finds acting too easy, the Asthana laugh booms. “That only shows he is very fond of me,” he offers. “But I would like to believe that acting shouldn’t be so easy. I always try to work out characters that are not only far from my real self but someone whom you have never seen before on screen.”

But for a methodist actor, do his characters remain with him off screen as well? “Not really,” says Boman. “The moment the cream comes off the face, it’s over. The body language, the action everything has to return to normal. Otherwise you would go crazy!”

Just before hanging up, Boman whispers a wish to come to Calcutta soon. “I was there some days back and had really planned to walk up to Flurys and have breakfast there but it didn’t work out,” he rues.

A pause later, it’s back to movies again. “But what did you think about the Eklavya promo?” he asks. “I play an evil Rana there. Do you think it will work for you?”

And you believed Boman when he said it’s all back to normal when the cream comes off?