Boman Irani: Fake news is more infectious than the coronavirus pandemic

Actor Boman Irani feels that during such crisis, any negative piece of information can create “fear and dismay” in people’s mind.

The amount of fake news doing the rounds on social media and through Whatsapp forwards, around the novel coronavirus has left actor Boman Irani worried. Though he personally pays no heed to any such news pieces, he feels they can create “fear and dismay” in people’s mind.

Actor Boman Irani strongly believes that positivity helps boost one’s immunity system.

“The fake news and messages are more infectious than the coronavirus. It’s infecting us and only spreading negativity and fear. And I refuse to be controlled by that,” rues Irani.

The actor says that even when he sits with his family, “at times, we do tend to discuss the forwarded messages that we get around this topic, and the predictions on how badly it’s going to affect us. But are we going to spend the next 30 days sitting and discussing the possibility that this message could be real or not real?,” he asks.

An optimist, Irani strongly believes that positivity helps boost the immunity system. “I take care of the happiness quotient of the family and keep everybody in a good mood, otherwise it’s going to hit you hard,” he says adding, “It’s great fun to be with my grandkids. In the day, we do our things and in the evening, we play games and do a bit of a dance.”

And since advancing digitally has become “the order of the day”, the actor is also making the most of his time doing live sessions online. “Just because I’m 60, how can I be left behind? I’m not going to stop myself from becoming tech-savvy and learning new things every day. My day starts with setting up my shop with a laptop and headphones, and I do hours of research for various live workshop sessions on photography and screenwriting. I also did a session with (motivational speaker) Gaur Gopal Das on relationships and I’ll be in talks with (actor-comedian) Johnny Lever on how to bring humour in our daily life,” he tells us.