In Lage Raho Munnabhai, Boman is almost unrecognisable as a sardar. Lucky Singh is a comical but chaloo businessman who lies with a straight face and a smile. Photographs (superimposed, of course) with A-listers like Aishwarya Rai, Arnold Schwarzenegger and George Bush are arranged around his home. But he's also a doting father and affectionate hubby who will do all he can to make his daughter smile.
"I have a mind that is hyperactive. So, I am already making notes while listening to the script. I would call Raju (director Rajkumar Hirani) at midnight and say, 'why don't we play him like this?' He could call me at 4 pm with another comment."
He doles out some interesting gyaan about character sketches for negative roles. "The worst way to play a negative character is to play them as completely bad people. The minute you see there is a little good, which means there is a chink in his armour, people hope the chink is attacked. With the funny guy, you look for a moment when there is some pathos. For a serious guy, I look for a moment where he can afford a smile, because that makes him real."
"Lucky has a hyperactive ability to lie himself out of trouble. What's interesting is he can also resort to kindness. His ways are not completely evil. He sends them off (five elderly bachelors, Munnabhai and his girlfriend, and a soon-to-be-married elderly couple) for a honeymoon to Goa. He doesn't throw them onto the street. I found him Machiavellian, but warm at the same time. He loves his wife and daughter."
"You know Lucky Singh is going to crumble some day. But you'd like to see him crumble. If he's just a hard-hearted man, it doesn't work. You like seeing a man with an Achilles heel, which is why those Greek tales are timeless."
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