The world of cinema has a way of pulling you in, even before you realise what’s happening, and overpowering you. For Honey Irani, it began when she was just two and a half years old. She remembers it vividly. ‘I was a tiny bundle of curiosity, scampering around our modest home in Bandra, Mumbai, when a man named Dulal Guha walked into our lives. He was a film producer, there to sign my older sister Daisy for a role in his movie, Ek Gaon Ki Kahani (1957). I was just a bystander, or so I thought, playing nearby as he spoke with my mother.

As he removed his hat, he revealed a bald head, I couldn’t help myself. “Mama, yeh toh takla [bald] hai!” I blurted out, pointing at him. The room froze. My mother’s face turned crimson, and before I could blink, her hand met my cheek with a sharp slap. “You don’t speak like that!” she scolded. But Guha, instead of being offended, chuckled. He looked at me, his eyes twinkling with interest. “How old is she?” he asked my mother. “Two and a half,” she replied, still flustered. He paused, then said, “If you don’t mind, can I sign her instead of Daisy? I did need someone younger actually.”’