Fans love, respect matters most to me: Boman Irani

Vancouver, Canada, April 5 (IANS) Actor Boman Irani cherishes the adulation of his fans and says it is more important than awards or box office successes.

"Awards, hits, flops or box-office collection really don't matter to me. At the end of the day, what matters to me is the love and respect, which I get from fans," Boman told IANS on the sidelines of the first edition of Times of India Film Awards( TOIFA) here.

The three-day event kicked off Thursday with a musical extravaganza at Pacific Coliseum (PNE) Thursday.

The craze for Bollywood is so huge here that on a rainy day, hundreds of people stood on the streets to get a glimpse of their favourite stars.

Boman, who is hosting the main event of TOIFA Saturday along with Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma, was ecstatic when people shouted his name.

He feels that fans want good performances, "something that can entertain them".

"I think we as an actor are doing it pretty well over the years. Fans actually look for love, they don't want an award winning performance, they want to have good time and this is what matters," added the 53-year-old who entered filmdom in 2001 with "Everybody Says I'm Fine!".

Were you a fan of any star?

"Many years ago, I was a fan too and I stood in the front of the crowd following celebrities," he said and added that he has watched "lot of shootings back home in the city of dreams (Mumbai) and I have also been chased by cops".

"I watched Sanjay Dutt shooting with Pooja Bhatt for 'Sadak' (1991). I stood in the middle of the road till 3 'o' clock in the morning. Little did I know at that time that I will work with them at some point of my life," said Boman who shared the screen space with his favourite actor in "Munnabhai M.B.B.S." and "Lage Raho Munna Bhai".

"Early in my career, I used to wonder what this fan craze is all about? But now I realise that there is a genuine love, respect and affection, which is unconventional and it makes me very proud as an actor," he said.

Boman Irani Pictures