Daisy Irani

Some Lesser Known Facts About Daisy Irani

• Daisy Irani started working in Bollywood as a child actor.

• Some child stars became popular during the golden age (1950s–70s) of Hindi cinema, and the Irani sisters, Daisy and Honey, were two of them.

• They often played the role of boys with curly hair in Hindi films and became well-known.

  

• Reportedly, the films featuring both sisters had the biggest openings. Many film directors used to change their film scripts to include them or give them more screen time, and they were often highlighted in film promotions.

• Her notable films as a child actor include Bandish (1955), Bhai Bhai (1956) as Munna, Naya Daur (1957), Hum Panchi Ek Daal Ke (1957) as Chatpat, Musafir (1957), Sahara (1958), Duniya Na Mane (1959), Do Ustad (1959) as Raja, Soorat Aur Seerat (1962).

  

• She once said in an interview that she and her sister Honey Irani did not enjoy their childhood and had no education. They did not go to school and were pushed into acting by their parents.

  

• By the time both sisters realized their situation, their childhood was over. According to Daisy Irani, veteran actress Meena Kumari made the difficult studio life a bit easier for them.

• She got the love from Meena that she never got from her mother. She pretended Meena was her mother and looked forward to working with her. After her first film Bandish with Meena Kumari, she played Meena’s son in Ek Hi Rasta and other films.

  

• Her last film as a teenager, Gomti Ke Kinare, was also with Meena Kumari.

• Daisy Irani was more popular than her sister Honey Irani as a child actor and continued acting as an adult, but not in major roles.

  

• The 1970 film Kati Patang was her last release.

• Daisy Irani stopped acting in films after marrying screenwriter K. K. Shukla in 1971.

  

• In 1975, she joined the New Life Fellowship in Mumbai.

• In the 1980s, Daisy Irani did some theatre work and started an acting school named Actor’s Art – Film & TV Acting Institute in Mumbai, India.

• After her husband died in the early 1990s, she returned to acting in the comedy television series Dekh Bhai Dekh. She then went on to appear in many television serials such as Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii (2000).

  

• Daisy Irani then appeared in films like Aastha: In the Prison of Spring (1997), Kya Kehna (2000), and Shararat (2002).

• In 2018, she disclosed in a media conversation that she was sexually assaulted at the age of 6 by her uncle during the production of a 1957 film. During the interview, she talked about her mother who pushed her into films. She said that her mother was determined to make her a celebrity.

  

• Daisy Irani narrated her childhood pain in the same interview and said the man who assaulted her was her guardian. He went with her to Madras to shoot a film titled Hum Panchhi Ek Dal Ke in 1957. After the incident, he hit her with a belt and warned her that he would kill her if she told anyone about what happened.

• The next day, she returned to the film studio as if nothing had happened. She did not tell her mother about the incident.

• Her younger sister Honey Irani, a child star, married script-writer Javed Akhtar. Their children are Bollywood filmmakers Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar.

• Another sister, Meneka Irani, is married to stunt film-maker Kamran Khan. They have two children, Sajid Khan and Farah Khan, who are Bollywood filmmakers.