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‘Iss bachchi ko kuchh ho jayega’: Honey Irani recalls Dharmendra protecting her as a child during a dangerous stunt sequence

Ace screenwriter Honey Irani, who began her career as a child artist back in the 1950s, worked with the late Dharmendra in four films. Some of them never saw light of the day, while the others like Rajnish Bahl’s Soorat Aur Seerat (1962) were fairly appreciated. But the distinct memory she has with the actor […]

Honey Irani recalls working with Dharmendra when she was a child artist.

Ace screenwriter Honey Irani, who began her career as a child artist back in the 1950s, worked with the late Dharmendra in four films. Some of them never saw light of the day, while the others like Rajnish Bahl’s Soorat Aur Seerat (1962) were fairly appreciated. But the distinct memory she has with the actor is from a film when they were a part of a dangerous stunt sequence.

“The director wanted to shoot us walking between two running trains! That was probably one of the first time such a sequence had been attempted in India,” Honey tells SCREEN exclusively. Dharmendra, who played a blind man in the film, refused to wear dark sunglasses in that sequence for safety reasons.

“‘Iss bachchi ko kuchh ho jayega (This girl may get harmed),’ he said and refused to wear the dark glasses. He was scared for me, so protective of me. Although the director instructed something else, he just took me in my lap and did the sequence. That protective feeling… I can’t even explain what that means to me even till now,” says Honey.

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She recalls how even years after they worked together, whenever Dharmendra would bump into her, he’d say, “Mera beta hai tu (You’re my son).” Honey recalled how Dharmendra was so amused by the fact that she played his daughter in some films, but also played his son in the others. “Beta hai ya beti, samajh hi nahi aata (Can’t make out if you were my son or daughter),” Honey quotes him, laughing her heart out.

Years after playing his son/daughter on screen, Honey grew up and worked with him when she was 19 in Ramesh Sippy’s 1975 comedy Seeta Aur Geeta, co-starring his future wife Hema Malini, and co-written by her future husband Javed Akhtar. But they shared screen space only in the climactic sequence. During the shoot, Dharmendra was quite surprised to see his “beta” all grown up.

“‘Arey, tu itni badi ho gayi! Pehle toh shorts pehen ke aati thi. Ab kya wahan sari pehen ke khadi hai! (Oh, you’ve grown up so fast! You used to wear shorts earlier. And here you are, standing in a sari now!),'” Honey recalled Dharmendra saying, unable to put an end to her hearty laugh. While she never collaborated with him after turning a screenwriter in the 1990s, he starred in a couple of films co-written by her ex-husband Javed Akhtar, including Sippy’s blockbuster Sholay (1975) and Manmohan Desai’s Chacha Bhatija (1977).

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“His versatility is very underrated. He could do all those commercial potboilers like Sholay, but could also pull off those Hrishikesh Mukherjee films like Satyakam (1969),” points out Honey, adding that he was also one of the kindest, nicest, and most humble people she came across in the Hindi film industry. “I can’t underline how important that is. It’s a huge loss not only to the film industry, but to humanity,” she adds.

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The last time Honey met her onscreen father from childhood was about two to three years ago. “He was still raring to go. He was very excited about working again, in Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023) and Ikkis (2025). But that warmth and kindness were still intact. We’d miss him terribly,” says Honey, with her hearty laughs put to rest now.

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