‘The Mehta Boys’ Review: Boman Irani Is A Well-Rounded Artist

Last October, I had the wonderful opportunity to watch Bollywood A-Lister Boman Irani’s directorial debut, The Mehta Boys, before anyone else. The premiere, which screened at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, brought in the whole top cast and crew for the weekend. Along with getting to interview Irani himself, I also had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Avinash Tiwary, Shreya Chaudhry, and co-screenwriter of the film Alex Dinelaris (Birdman). 

Watch the Q&A of the movie here:

‘The Mehta Boys’ Review

Boman Irani’s The Mehta Boys follows Amay (Avinash Tiwary), an architect having to deal with the loss of his mother when he comes home to his sister and his father, Mehta (Boman Irani). In a sudden turn of events, Mehta is forced to stay with Amay at his place for an extended period of time. Tension breaks through, and the father-son dynamic is turned on it’s head as Mehta disrupts Amay’s relationship with Zara (Shreya Chaudhry), downplays Amay’s work as an architect, and constantly tries to nitpick every little thing Amay does. But what else is a father for?

The film is an elevated experience from most Bollywood movies I’ve seen, and that’s largely due to the screenplay having a co-writing credit with Alex Dinelaris; who projects a screenwriting structure largely affiliated with American movies onto the film. Irani initially befriended Dinelaris ten years prior and brought him on to work on the screenplay right before Dinelaris won an Oscar for Birdman at the 87th Academy Awards. After spending years together and having the patience in order to craft the best screenplay, I can happily say their hard work paid off in the best way.

The heart of the film lies in Avinash Tiwary’s Amay, who perfectly executes the character of a “too cool for you” man in his early 20’s. Smitten by his girlfriend Zara in one scene and pissed off at his father in the next, Tiwary is not afraid to show off his range throughout the film. He’s able to get into the emotional cuts of what makes Amay so dissonant in his thought process, and I can’t help but applaud him for his portrayal.

The film is not without its flaws, including some scenes feeling a little draggy. The runtime of the film is almost two hours and it certainly feels like a two-hour movie. But overall, The Mehta Boys is wonderfully paced and mostly doesn’t add what it doesn’t need. I expect this film to be a huge crowd-pleaser, as it was at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival where it won the Audience Choice Award for the weekend, and I can’t wait for more people to watch this. 

In my opinion, The Mehta Boys is a lot more inviting to other audiences away from India than most other Bollywood films. I think that’s largely due to Dinelaris’ ability to craft a wonderful screenplay coupled with Irani’s ever-present charm (which is very present throughout the film and not contained to just his character). 

One thing Irani revealed during the festival was that he always wanted to be a filmmaker, a passion that he specifically said was ignited in him when he was 19. Well, at 65 years young, he finally achieved his goal and only sees The Mehta Boys as the first part of a much larger career ahead of him. His ability to manage this production while also acting as one of the main characters is a remarkable feat, and I just can’t wait to see more of the screenplays he has hidden in the future. 

The Mehta Boys was directed by Boman Irani and written by Boman Irani and Alex Dinelaris. The film stars Avinash Tiwary as Amay, Boman Irani as Mehta, and Shreya Chaudhry as Zara. The Mehta Boys will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video February 7.