Aruna Irani said Mehmood helped launch her career but later openly exploited her (IMAGE: X)
Aruna Irani, a veteran of Bollywood, recently opened up about her complicated relationship with the late actor and comedian Mehmood.
She’s clear about one thing: he played a huge role in getting her started in Hindi films, but their connection brought as many problems as it did opportunities.
Speaking to Zoom, Aruna shared how it all began. Mehmood was already famous, and he was the one who first cast her, helping her get her foot in the door.
Her mother warned her, again and again, to end things with him, saying it was wrong. But Aruna stuck by Mehmood, insisting she was committed.
She admits she felt weighed down by everything he did for her. Because he helped her so much at the start, she ended up dating him. But that support eventually made things messy.
She explains it openly: “Mehmood ji was already married twice. People started calling me a homebreaker. My mother kept telling me to walk away, but I didn’t listen. Once I made a name for myself, Mehmood started to pull away. I can’t blame him completely; he really did a lot for me during my struggling days.”
Over time, as Aruna’s career took off and she began landing bigger roles, things changed between them. She felt like Mehmood was taking advantage of her.
“After a point, I realized he was openly exploiting me. It got really complicated,” she says.
There was always gossip flying around rumours about their personal life, talk of marriage. Mehmood would sometimes say he’d marry her, but he never did. Looking back, Aruna is relieved. “He could’ve married me for the third time, his religion allowed it but honestly, I’m glad it didn’t happen. It was just wrong.”
Those rumours had real consequences. The industry started to treat her differently. Filmmakers got nervous, thinking she might get pregnant and cause delays on their projects, so the offers dried up. “He used to tell people he’d married me. Because of that, people stopped giving me work.
They were scared that if I got pregnant, their film would get stuck. It was a huge setback.”
Aruna also talked about how tough things were for actresses back then. The industry wasn’t kind. Vulnerability and exploitation were everywhere, and you had to be smart just to survive.
Now, Aruna is married to filmmaker Kuku Kohli and still commands respect in Indian cinema. After decades of work—mainstream hits to character roles, she’s built a legacy that’s hard to ignore.
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