Veteran star Aruna Irani has played many pivotal roles in films from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. The actress, who primarily portrayed negative roles during her younger days, was rumoured to be married to the legendary comedian Mehmood. However, in a recent chat with Zoom, the actors refuted the rumours and clarified that they were just “good friends,” with Aruna even labelling Mehmood as her “guru.” She said, “We did a lot of films together. We were very good friends, hum bahut acche dost the [We were very good friends]. At that time Mumtaz became a heroine and Shubha Khote got married. The makers called girls to work opposite him and they selected me. Usually, it takes time to get tuning right in comedy. Comedy is difficult but I learnt a lot from him. He was my guru, he taught me timing.”
Aruna Irani opened up about how she stopped getting films due to the rumours of her marrying Mehmood. She added, “Two of my films Caravan and Bombay To Goa – both were running in theatres and both were jubilee and I got a lot of praise for them… But I didn’t get work (afterwards). And this was because there were rumours that I had married Mehmood. But there was nothing like that. We also were fools not to clear it out. We should have called the media and cleared it. We were friends but nothing else and because of that rumour my track got changed in the Hindi film industry.”
There was also an incident where Mehmood’s wife asked him to stop working with Aruna Irani, the actress shared. She also recalled Mehmood telling her, “Bahut jhagde ho rahe hai, isliye hum kaam nahi kar skte [Too many fights are happening. That’s why we can not work together],” and she expressed her acceptance of the decision. “Prabhu ne phir doosre raaste khol diye [After that, God opened more doors for me],” Aruna added.
In the same interview, Aruna Irani shared why she kept her wedding with Kuku Kohli a secret and discussed the couple’s decision not to have kids. She said, “I didn’t tell anyone about our marriage because he was a married man. I don’t know where this stupid news came from that I was not aware of his first marriage. His wife would come on the sets along with the kids. I knew about it. It was a tough decision to make. Somehow we got married. It was not a right decision for us to not have kids. But he fought the world to marry me.”
Aruna Irani started her acting career in 1958 with the film Shikwa. She also appeared in many hits of the golden era such as Patthar Ke Sanam, Aan Milo Sajna, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, Jaani Dushman, Ghar Ek Mandir, and more. Aruna has also been part of television shows like Tum Bin Jaaoon Kahaan, Babul Ki Bitiya Chali Doli Saja Ke, and Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki.
