Aruna Irani is an Indian actress of mixed Irani Zoroastrian and Hindu background. An accomplished actress and dancer of her time, Aruan Irani has acted in about 300 movies, with many memorable acting performances to her credit. Producer-director Indra Kumar is her brother and film director Kuku Kohli is her husband.
Aruna Irani made her debut in the movie Gunga Jumna (1961). After doing several small roles in films like Jahanara (1964), Farz (1967), and Aaya Sawan Jhoomke (1969), and pairing with comedian Mehmood in films like Aulad (1968), Humjoli (1970), and Naya Zamana (1971), she finally shot to fame with her brilliant performance as an aggressive gypsy woman in the super hit Caravan (1971). By that time, however, she was emotionally involved with Mehmood and did not focus fully on her career. Their relationship also ruined the chances of her getting the heroine's roles. Yet, Mehmood gave her lead roles opposite the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Mehra in the films that he made: Bombay To Goa (1972), Garam Masala (1972), and Do Phool (1973). The success as a heroine still eluded her and she ended up doing vampish and supporting roles, mainly because her memorable performance in Caravan had already typecast her in such roles. To her credit, however, Aruan Irani seriously took each role and delivered nice performances, thus endearing herself to filmmakers and creating a niche for herself. No other actress of her time could have done full justice to her role of a seductress out to rob the teenage hero Rishi Kapoor off his innocence in Bobby (1973). Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s she appeared in several supporting roles, notably Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (1974), Do Jhooth (1975), Khel Khel Mein (1975), Bhanwar (1976), Fakira (1976), Laila Majnu (1976), Sargam (1979), Qurbani (1980), Aas Paas (1980), Love Story (1981)and Kudrat (1981). She finally won her first Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Pet Pyaar Aur Paap (1984). In the late 1980s and 1990s she switched to playing motherly roles, notably in Beta (1992) for which she won her second Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award.
