Daisy Irani, child-star of the 1950s, was raped at 6
Famous child star of the yesteryears, Daisy Irani, has revealed more than 60 years later that she was raped during a shoot when she was six. It isn't the #MeToo movement, or a desire to create sensationalism, but the large number of child actors in the industry which prompted her to speak out, she says. As for the rapist, he's "dead and gone."
Irani was so loved that roles were written for her
Irani, maternal aunt of Farhan and Zoya Akhtar and Farah Khan, was a favorite of the masses. She was so popular that roles were specially written for her. After entering movies when she was just four, she went on to appear in over 50 films, mostly as boys, and acted with leading stars like Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Meena Kumari.
The traumatic incident happened in a hotel room
When she was six, a guardian, "Nazar uncle," accompanied her to the shoot of 'Hum Panchhi Ek Dal Ke' in Madras. "One night in the hotel room he violated me, hit me with a belt and threatened to kill me if I told anyone." Though she doesn't remember the incident clearly, she remembers the "killing pain" and "visuals of him belting me."
As a result, she was very protective of her sister
When she eventually told her mother about it years later, there was nothing that could be done. About how the incident affected her, she says, "As I grew up, I started flirting outrageously, I would tease and taunt men. I did not even understand what I was doing." But when younger sister Honey too entered the movies, she turned very protective.
Irani has now found solace in Christianity
After a couple of stormy affairs in her teenage years, Irani went on to marry director KK Shukla, now dead, when she was 21. Honey, mother of Zoya and Farhan, married scriptwriter-lyricist Javed Akhtar when she was 18, while the third sister Menaka married filmmaker Kamran Khan when she was 19. Finding solace in Christianity, she has now joined the New Life Fellowship Association.
'Child actors have it tough'
Irani says she wanted to make children in the industry aware and urge them to be careful. "Child actors have it tough. In a majority of cases they have been taken advantage of. Maybe a few have had it easy, but most don't, really."
