April 30, 2026, was a special day for Boman Irani and the film industry in general. It was the day when the latest edition of Spiral Bound, the writing and mentoring initiative founded by the veteran actor, brought together some of the most influential voices in Indian cinema for an evening celebrating storytelling and mentorship, in collaboration with Moskino and Moscow Film Cluster, a key body which supports and develops the creative industry in Moscow, Russia. Some of the most prominent celebrities like Javed Akhtar, Aamir Khan, Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Sooraj Barjatya, Ishaan Khatter, Farah Khan, Anil Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Diya Mirza, Jackie Shroff, Ananya Pandey, Imtiaz Ali, Amruta Fadnavis, Abhishek Bachchan, Ali Fazal, Richa Chadha, Gajraj Rao, Archana Puran Singh, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Ramesh Sippy, etc. attended the event and no wonder that it became the talk of the town.
How was the Spiral Bound gala and were you amazed by the turnout?
Spiral Bound started with 3 writers and then snowballed into this huge thing, which would hopefully and, I say this humbly, will change lives. It has discovered talent that people may not have felt that they had. It culminated in this contest. We got too many entries. At first, we decided to invite the top 75 shortlisted participants at the gala. Then, I thought ’75 ka 100 hi kar lo’. We had received 300 entries and eventually, we decided to invite all of them! Why should we leave anybody out? It’s a celebration at the end of the day.
Having said that, I needed people from the industry to come and encourage these talents who are writing in the dark and in loneliness. During the pandemic, there was a sense of insecurity among them. They wondered what’s going to happen to them and what was happening in the world. Slowly and steadily, we grew into this wonderful organization. 870 classes later, we had the gala.
The first person I called was Javed saab (Javed Akhtar), as he’s the big daddy of writers in this country! Before I could finish the sentence, he told me, ‘Bas, date bata do aur time bata do. Main pahuch jaaunga. You don’t need to call again (to remind me)’. Then I called Sooraj ji (Sooraj Barjatya), Raju (Rajkumar Hirani), Shoojit Sircar, Imtiaz Ali, Anupam Kher, Ramesh Sippy, etc. You name it and I made that call; without blinking an eye, they all said that they’ll be there. Anil Kapoor attended the gala. Abhishek Bachchan had to go for the screening of Raja Shivaji and yet, he came. I had Aamir Khan way in advance. He told me, ‘I’ll be caught up with the promotions of my son’s film (Ek Din) lekin main aaunga’. And he did. Ramesh Sippy said, ‘I need to go for a birthday, but let me know at what time I have to come’. He stayed till the very end!
Unfortunately, Subhash Ghai saab was unwell. But even he had agreed to come. He, in fact, told me, ‘I’ll cancel all my other commitments and come’. I told the writers, ‘All these people have not come for me. They have come for you. They want to encourage you’. They have come for the cause and to make it clear that writers are so important. You saw the picture – they all stood in a row. Those people will never forget it. Now they have the responsibility to deliver. Aapko itna izzat aur maan diya hai. Ab aap aur mehnat karo. Many are afraid to show their work. They feel the feedback they’ll get it is ‘Kya bakwaas hai’. There’s no way of finding out if it’s good or bad until you read it. And we believe in giving accurate feedback. If you feel bad about it, then it's your loss. So, they all take it very well. Humne mahaul hi aisa paida kiya hai ki koi kuchh bhi bole, bura nahin lagna chahiye.
One aspect that stands out in our films is the concept of an interval point or interval block. Films in the West no longer have that. Even the books on filmmaking and screening from the West don’t talk about intervals. Since the interval point is so crucial in our films, do you teach the writers about it?
What people need to understand in the West is that they don’t stop the film. But they do have something called the mid-point. Also, the big Hollywood sagas had an interval point at one point. But as time passed, films became shorter and shorter. Then they felt ‘1 hour 45-minute ki film mein kya interval denge?’. There, theatres do the sales of snacks before the screening.
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At one point, there used to be something called ‘intermission’ featuring a musical re-entry into the film. They used to resume the film with an ‘entr'acte’, where the orchestra would play the theme in the interval. This used to happen in the times of epics like Ben-Hur (1959), The Ten Commandments (1956), Lawrence Of Arabia (1962), etc.
At the same time, the principles of screenwriting in the West remain the same. They don’t cut or stop the film midway. In the film that I made, The Mehta Boys (2025), I was very specific about the mid-point. I was clear that mid-point mein yeh yeh yeh hona chahiye. James Bond films also have a mid-point. We don’t realize it because the ‘interval’ slate is not flashed on the screen. However, in India, people like to get excited during the interval and wonder, ‘What will happen next in the film?’ It leads to discussion. However, the principles of teaching, more or less, remain the same. It’s called a mid-point twist – the piece of information that keeps you interested in the second half of the film.
The top three writers of the content will head to Moscow. Could you tell us what happens there once the writers head to the Russian capital?
We partnered with Moskino as we wanted somebody equally excited and passionate and who can help us get an insight of another film industry. The idea is that jaa ke dekh ke aao aur seekho. We’ll get to learn as well.
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Hence, there’s a great charm of partnering with someone who would do a sharing in cinema, not just in cost. They helped us with the cost also. But the priority was to partner with people who are serious about making possibly co-productions and also inviting people to Moscow to shoot over there. Their facility is apparently fantastic and the studios are stunning.
Have you ever been to Moscow?
No. But I am going now. I am also invited. They want me to do a workshop for their students. There’s a plan to screen The Mehta Boys as well with Russian subtitles. So, it’ll be a healthy exchange.
Also, I heard Moscow is magnificent. So, we’ll indulge in tourist activities and also learn something. If there’s any opening for co-production, we’ll look into that as well. It’s a multi-purpose visit.
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