Those who are tired of watching Boman Irani do the funny act might like his dead serious looks in Vidhu Vinod Chopra's "Eklavya".

"I did serious stuff in 'My Wife's Murder' and 'Don'. And now in 'Eklavya' I play a man whose history defines his present. I play a pitch-black character. Someone who's feared but who fears himself the most. It's the most complicated role I've ever done," Boman told IANS.

Chopra was someone Boman had worked with on the "Munnabhai" films.

"Being directed by Chopra in 'Eklavya' was something else. I had heard stories about him losing his temper and throwing tantrums on the sets. But he's like a child in a candy store. So passionate about his work that he forgets everything.

"Our discussions on the sets often went far beyond movies. We'd discuss scenes and then move on to discussing life. I had never imagined this side to Chopra."

Boman, who was seen with Amitabh Bachchan in "Waqt - A Race Against Time", shares different screen chemistry with the Big B in "Eklavya".

"We had lots to laugh about in Vipul Shah's 'Waqt'. In 'Eklavya', we're thrown into an utterly grim situation. And bonding on an actual location (Rajasthan) makes things very different from saying bye bye on sets."

Then there's the third film in the "Munnabhai" series happening very shortly. It's located in the US.

"I'd better be in it. Or I won't give them the visa to go there," Boman laughed.

" 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' was a personal triumph. I was playing a different character from the first 'Munnabhai' film. I quite liked my character in 'Lage Raho...' He thinks he can get away with anything.

"People were initially taken aback because I was playing a character totally different from the first film. They soon got a hang of it. Or else they'd have hung me by the nearest tree."

Boman, who plays Shabana's loud gregarious husband in Reema Kagti's directorial debut "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd", wears a wig in the film. He is all praise for the hair stylist Avan Contractor.

"She was all there. She read the script, saw my character inside out and decided he needed a wigged look. She showed me about 10 photographs and finally said, 'Your character is stuck in time.' That's exactly how I saw my character.

"Our costume designer worked out a bell-bottomed dude's look. I'm very happy to get roles like 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd'."