Veteran actress Daisy Irani, who starred as a child artiste in films like Boot Polish, Jagte Raho and Naya Daur, revealed to Mumbai Mirror that she was raped during an outdoor shoot by her mother-entrusted “guardian” when she was six-years-old.
The actress said that her mother was “hell-bent on making her a star.” She further said, “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.” 60 years later, Daisy Irani can “recall the incident only in flashes, but I do remember the killing pain, and the visual of him belting me.”
Daisy Irani went to the sets of the film next day as though nothing had happened, she said to Mumbai Mirror. Daisy Irani said that her mother got to know about the Madras incident many years later but “what could be done really?”
“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,” Daisy Irani added.
Daisy Irani decided to talk about her childhood, which she says “resembled a never-ending black comedy,” to alert the parents of child artistes of today to be vigilant for their kids’ safety. “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,” she said.
Daisy Irani is the sister of Honey Irani (mother of Farhan and Zoya Akhtar) and Meneka (Farah and Sajid Khan’s mother). When her siblings entered the film industry she became “over-protective” for them.