After shooting for 14 days for Rajkumar Hirani’s Munnabhai MBBS in 2002 Boman Irani went back to what he is good at. Photography. “I was not looking at a career in films. I just did it as a one-off thing. I never expected to do another film,” says the Parsi actor who played the role of Dr J Asthana, the medical college principal who laughs when he is angry, in the movie. Asthana became famous, so did Irani.

Eight years since then, Irani has done 52 films so far — on an average, seven films per year. “It is a little embarrassing. It is too much,” says the 51-year-old actor who walked into Bollywood with no godfathers.

From the maverick Asthana in Munnabhai MBBS to the real estate swindler Kishen Khurana in Khosla Ka Ghosla, and to the egoistic Viru Shahastrabudhhe or Virus in 3 Idiots, Irani’s characters became an integral part of the moviegoer’s consciousness.

When Dibakar Banerjee offered Irani the role in Khosla Ka Ghosla, he refused to do it initially. “Hindi was a problem for me. I thought I wouldn’t be able to pull it along. But the director was confident after seeing me as Dr Asthana in Munnabhai,” Irani says. He did the role and considers it as one of the biggest leaps of his career. “For me the idea of playing someone that I have no idea of is big.”

Irani feels there aren’t any rules when it comes to acting. “Why should I stick to any rules?” he asks. To a certain extent he sets his own.

“I will do characters and stories that are interesting. I will also work with people I like. I will not do a good film if I find that the people I am working with are unpleasant. Participation in the creative process is important. Find the role where you can discuss the script. It is not a greyhound race where when the gate opens you run.”

Sitting at a coffee house in a Mumbai suburban star hotel, Irani opens up his mind to talk about his contribution in creating characters that are identifiable. “I think what we need is a great revolution in writing in the Indian film industry. We don’t give enough stature and position to our writers,” he says. According to him, the stories have to have a relationship with our contemporary consciousness.

“That is why Rajkumar Hirani’s films work. Because they strike a chord right from the word go. He is not just creating comedies to make you laugh.”

Reflecting on the character he played in 3 Idiots, a film he refused at first because of its apparent similarity with the role he played in Munnabhai MBBS, he says that Virus Amphidexterous was his idea.

“In my mind the character (Virus) is a genius. As a genius he could have done so much more with his life. Instead he is using his left and right writing abilities to write rustication letters. He could have done so much more. It tells the tragedy of his life. To me that is an added layer under the story.”

According to him, Virus is a despicable character.

“There is a window of hope inside him. If Virus understands what Rancho (the character played by Aamir Khan) is saying then the audience will understand. You have to play that part. You become the mind of the audience. The lessons that Virus learns are the lessons that the audience learns. The changeover of Virus in the film is the changeover of the system,” Irani says. He spends a few days with Hirani in a cottage near Pune preparing for the role.

Has Irani become choosey? “I can be as choosey as I want. But there are only a certain number of films that I will be able to say I am dying to do. If I start becoming choosy I don’t know where to draw the line and if I keep drawing the line and become choosey, I will be doing no work.”

Irani did several things before he became a film actor. He worked in a hotel. He sold potato wafers from his family run store near Grant Road in Mumbai. He was a professional photographer for several years. His friend Shiamak Davar introduced him to theatre. He got his first big break in with Rahul Da Cunha’s I’m Not Bajirao, an adaptation of Herb Gardner's experimental play, I'm Not Rappaport. The play became a blockbuster, running for several years. Even before Hindi films came his way, he acted in two English feature films — Rahul Bose’s Everybody Says I'm Fine and Let’s Talk by Ram Madhvani.

For someone who grew up in Nagpada, the backyard of Mumbai’s underworld, and remained almost anonymous till a few years back, Irani has handled fame with an easy nonchalance. He has moved from Nagpada to Dadar’s Parsi colony. From Maruti to Merc and now to a brand new white BMW, Irani is enjoying his life.

“I never planned my career,” he says. With more than a lakh of followers on Twitter, the actor thinks age is still on his side.

“I am a little wiser now,” he says with his characteristic wink.