2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Forced to work as a child artiste by her mother, this actor was sexually assaulted by her ‘guardian' at 6 on a film shoot; was slapped by Meena Kumari
While the brilliance of Honey Irani has been widely celebrated, her elder sister, Daisy Irani, possessed an equally formidable talent that often remained unchronicled. Like Honey, Daisy was a celebrated child actor during the golden era of Bollywood. Starting her career at the tender age of three, Daisy and Honey, frequently cast as curly-haired kids, quickly became household names. Films featuring both sisters guaranteed blockbuster openings, with stories often rewritten to include them or expand their roles, and their presence prominently highlighted in movie promotions.
Born into an Irani Zoroastrian family, Daisy was drawn to the performing arts from a young age. It's said that academics held little appeal for her, with Daisy even struggling to clear the fourth grade after multiple attempts. Yet, during this period, director-producer Satyen Bose spotted her, immediately deciding to cast her in Bandish, co-starring screen legends Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari. Recalling her memories of shooting with Meena Kumari, Daisy, in an old interview with LandmarcFilms, shared a poignant anecdote about a scene where Meena had to slap her. The young Daisy was so terrified that it required multiple takes.
'I still very clearly remember that I was really scared and was kind of anticipating her to hit me, and that was getting caught on camera,' Daisy recounted. 'So she took me aside and calmed myself down and won my trust. But as soon as the camera rolled, she gave me a tight one, and after that she was all tears and continuously asking me to forgive her. She was a brilliant human.' Naturally, after the success of Bandish, Daisy became the top choice for child roles, gracing the screen alongside stalwarts like Raj Kapoor (Jagte Raho), Dilip Kumar (Naya Daur), Dev Anand (Sharabi), and Rajesh Khanna (Kati Patang), among many others.
Daisy also fondly remembered her close friendships with actors like Lalita Pawar and Shyama, both known for their archetypal stepmother roles, with Daisy's characters often enduring on-screen beatings from them. While her career soared, bringing recognition and a flurry of movies, Daisy's young life was tragically marred by a traumatic incident she can never forget, one she previously spoke about to Mumbai Mirror. She revealed she was just six years old when she was raped: 'The man who did this was supposed to be my guardian. He accompanied me to a film shoot (Hum Panchhi Ek Dal Ke) in Madras. One night in the hotel room he violated me, hit me with a belt and warned me that he would kill me if I ever told anyone about what had happened.'
She further added, 'That man is dead and gone. His name was Nazar, he was related to the famous singer Zohrabai Ambalewaali. Obviously, he had contacts in the film industry. My mother was hell-bent on making me a star. I made my debut in the Marathi movie, Baby. So Uncle Nazar had accompanied me to the shoot of Hum Panchhi Ek Dal Ke in Madras. I can recall the incident only in flashes, but I do remember the killing pain, and the visual of him belting me. The next morning, I was back at the studio as if nothing had happened. For years, I couldn't dare to tell my mother about what he had done.'
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The incident took a severe psychological toll on the young Daisy. 'All I can say is as I grew up, I started flirting outrageously, I would tease and taunt men,' Daisy admitted. 'I did not even understand what I was doing. I became badtameez (without manners). With time, my mother did get to know about the Madras incident but what could be done really?' Another unsettling encounter from her teenage years further illustrates the challenges Daisy faced. 'When I was 15 or so,' she recalled, 'mother made me wear a sari, padded me up with a new-fangled sponge, and left me alone with producer Mallikchand Kochar, who was planning a film called Mere Huzoor then, at his office located somewhere between Maratha Mandir cinema and the Tardeo circle. It was all quite hilarious… He joined me on the sofa, and started touching me… I knew what was on his mind. I took out the sponge things and handed them to him. He was furious. Now why did I do that? Because, I've always seen the funnier side of things.'
No wonder, why Daisy added that child actors often face harsh realities, with most being taken advantage of in the film industry. Perhaps, that's why when her younger sister Honey entered the film industry, Daisy felt a strong protective instinct, shielding her from similar harms. 'Both of us had a common obsession: to get married and leave home as soon as we could,' Daisy shared. 'I revered Dad, he was cute, and he loved us to pieces but he would always be busy at work, his family owned the B. Merwan Café at Grant Road. I loved my mother too, but I guess I hated her as well.' A significant challenge Daisy faced throughout the major part of her career as a child actor was that she and Honey primarily played male characters on screen. The transition to female roles later proved particularly difficult for Daisy.
While narrating this to LandmarcFilms, she laughingly reminisced, 'I never had problems playing male characters as I had an elder brother whom I could mimic. But the problem came when I had to be a girl again. Because in all my dialogues I would naturally say 'aata hoon' 'jaata hoon'. So Nargis aunty used to scold me, even Meena ji once scolded me, and Yousuf saab (Dilip Kumar) once got very angry and was like 'You're a girl, what is this 'aata hoon jaata hoon?'' Daisy quit films after her marriage in 1971, with Kati Patang being her last release, back then.
She married the famous screenwriter KK Shukla, known for films like Suhaag and Mard. While it's said to have been love at first sight, Daisy once confided to Mumbai Mirror, 'Before he proposed to me, he used to play Cupid between my boyfriends and me. Our marriage lasted the course somehow although I once told him I knew of his extra-marital affair… He didn't know where to look!' Amidst her married life in the 1980s, Daisy worked in theatre for a while and even started an acting school. However, tragedy struck with the death of her husband in the early 1990s. Eventually, she made a comeback with the film Aastha: In the Prison of Spring, co-starring Om Puri and Rekha, where she played a vamp, a performance she considers one of her most memorable.
Daisy also ventured into television in her second innings, appearing in popular shows like Sanjivani and Shararat. However, when talk show host Tabassum once asked her why she didn't achieve similar superstardom as a grown-up actor, Daisy remarked that audiences could never truly envision her outside the mould of her child artist roles and never took her mature performances seriously. In recent years, she has been seen in supporting roles, the last one being in Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Happy New Year, directed by her niece Farah Khan.
