Boman Irani’s first film as a leading man was also his first with the great Shyam Benegal, whom he recalls with much fondness. “What I saw on the set of Well Done, Abba was a person dealing with humanity with every single person. That’s my greatest takeaway from working with Mr. Benegal. If we broke for lunch at 1, he’d say, ‘Can you hold this emotion till after lunch?’ And I would say, ‘Sure.’ I asked, ‘Why can’t we work for another 10 minutes and complete the shot?’ He said, ‘No, if you can hold it, well and good, because I don’t like to stretch the lunch break time. Everybody on the set is not as invested as you and I. A crew, like an army, marches on its stomach. And not only must you feed them on time, but you must also feed them well.’ Considering it was a very, very tight-budget film, the food selected by him—the caterer selected by him as the producer—was top class because it meant that people should be happy when they come back to work in the afternoon instead of being grumpy and sleepy.”
Boman also saw every actor being treated the same on Benegal’s set. “No actor was too big on the set. No crew member was too big or too small on the set. And I will always cherish this one experience in my life. And that’s the very reason why I’m speaking at length. Otherwise, sometimes you run out of steam. So what do you say about somebody when people ask you for a quote? You say a couple of lines and say, ‘Thank you. I had fun.’ But I can go on and on about Mr. Benegal, but I think this should do for what you asked me for.”
