Smriti Irani is an actor-turned-politician and the Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from Amethi constituency in the 17th Lok Sabha (2019-2024).
Wiki/Biography
Smriti Irani was born “Smriti Malhotra” on Tuesday, March 23, 1976 in New Delhi (age 48; as of 2024). Her zodiac sign is Aries.
Smriti Irani as a child
She studied at Holy Child Auxilium School in New Delhi. She is pass number 12. She pursued a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Delhi University’s Open Learning Institute but dropped out of the course midway.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′7″
Weight (approximately): 80kg
Eye color: black
Hair color: black
family
Parents and siblings
Her father Ajay Kumar Malhotra is of mixed Punjabi and Maharashtrian Hindu descent, and her mother Shibani Bagchi (Indian Awami League) A former member of the right-wing Jana Sangha of the RSS) is of mixed Assamese descent of Bengali origin.
Smriti Irani’s mother
She has two sisters.
husband and children
She married Zubin Irani, a Parsi businessman. The couple has a son named Zohr Israeli and a daughter named Zoish Israeli.
Smriti Irani and her family
She also has a stepdaughter, Shanelle Israeli, Zubin’s daughter from her first marriage to former beauty pageant contestant Mona Israel.
Zubin Irani’s ex-wife Mona Irani and Smriti Irani’s stepdaughter Shaneer
Shanelle Irani married Arjun Bhalla on February 9, 2023, at Khimsar Fort in Nagaur, Rajasthan.
Shanelle Irani and Arjun Bhalla wedding photos
other relatives
Her grandfather is Punjabi and her grandmother is Marathi. Irani’s maternal grandfather is Bengali and her maternal grandmother is Assamese.
religion
Smriti Irani is a Hindu. She is an ardent follower of Lord Ganesha and is often spotted wearing a Ganesha locket.
Smriti Irani wears Ganesha locket
political career
Smriti Irani joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2003.
Smriti Irani joins BJP
In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, she contested against Kapil Sibal from Delhi’s Chandni Chowk constituency but lost. In the same year, she became the president of the Maharashtra youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party. She has also been nominated as executive member of the central committee of the BJP. In 2009, she campaigned against Vijay Goel in New Delhi. In 2010, she was appointed national secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party and appointed president of the Mahila Morcha (women’s wing) of the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, she contested against Rahul Gandhi from Amethi constituency and lost by 1,07,923 votes. Despite this, Narendra Modi appointed her as the Human Resource Development Minister in the Cabinet, making her the youngest Cabinet Minister at that time.
In the cabinet reshuffle in 2016, she was transferred from the Ministry of Human Resource Development to the Ministry of Textiles. In 2017, she was handed over the additional charge of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, which was abrogated in 2018 and given to Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. In 2019, she defeated Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi constituency, winning by a margin of 55,120 votes and became the Women and Child Development Minister. In July 2022, he will also serve as the director of the Department of Ethnic Minority Affairs. She contested the Amethi seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and lost to Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma by a margin of 1,67,196 votes.
Careers – Television, Film and Theater
in tv
She was one of the contestants in the Miss India beauty pageant in 1998 but failed to make it to the top 9.
Smriti Irani competes in Miss India beauty pageant
In 1998, she made her debut with the song “Boliyan” from the album “Saawan Mein Lag Gayi Aag” with Mika Singh. She made her debut as an actress in the television shows “Aatish” and “Hum Hain Kal Aaj Aur Kal” in 2000. Both the series are aired on Star Plus. She became a household name in the mid-2000s for her role as ‘Tulsi Virani’ in Ekta Kapoor’s Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (2000-2008). The serial ran for eight years and Smriti became the most popular bahu on television.
Smriti Irani Kunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi
She made her TV debut as a television producer in 2007 with the Sony TV series Virrudh.
She hosted the television show “Yeh Hai Jalwa”, a dance reality show that aired on 9x in 2008.
Smriti Irani is the host of the show – Yeh Hai Jalwa
in movies
In 2010, she made her Hindi film debut with the movie Malik Ek.
Smriti Irani in Malik Ek’s scene
She made her Telugu debut in 2011 with the film “Jai Bolo Telangana”.
In 2012, she made her debut in Bengali films with the film Amrita.
in theater
She has done various theater projects; the first one was the Hindi play “Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahein”. She then wrote her first Gujarati play titled “Maniben.com”. She has also written a Telugu drama Jai Bolo Telangana.
dispute
- She is accused of providing conflicting affidavits about her educational qualifications. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, she claimed to have a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, she claimed to have a Bachelor of Commerce (B. Com). It was later clarified that she had completed the first part of a bachelor’s degree in commerce but not the three-year degree course.
- She had been criticized for not taking appropriate action in the suicide case of Dalit student Rohit Vermulla of Hyderabad University.
- She was criticized by several university presidents for sacking two vice-chancellors during her tenure as HRD minister.
- In 2014, she caused a stir when she announced that she would replace German with Sanskrit as the third language for the Kendriya Vidhyalayas.
- The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) had expressed strong opposition to Smriti’s decision in 2017, when she cleared the clause that would bring the IIM under the purview of her department.
- Many bureaucrats left her department because of her overbearing personality.
- On July 23, 2022, the Congress party accused her daughter Zoish of “illegally” running a restaurant and bar in Goa. According to Parliament, Zoish obtained the license “fraudulently” and the license to run the bar was obtained in the name of the deceased. Following these accusations, the Congress Party demanded the resignation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Later, Smriti Irani refuted the Congress party’s accusations and said they were targeting her daughter with “malicious intent”. Smriti Irani said,
The accusations against my daughter of running an illegal bar are malicious and aimed not only at assassinating her character but also at politically defaming me. Gandhi family directs this press conference [by Congress] If anyone targets my children, let me tell you, let Rahul Gandhi go back and contest the Lok Sabha elections from Amisi in 2024, he will fail again. This is my commitment as a PPP worker and the mother of that 18-year-old child. I will see them in court. “
address
A-602, Neptune Apartments, Swami Samarth Nagar Cross Lane 4, Lokhandwala Building, Andheri West, Mumbai 400053
Awards
Smriti Irani Awarded
indian television academy awards
- The TV series “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” won the 4th ITA Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series (Public) in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
- 2004 Best Actress in a TV Series “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” (Popular)
- In 2010, the TV series “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi” won the ITA Milestone Award
indian television awards
- With the TV series “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi”, she won the Best Actress Award (Popular) three times in 2002, 2003 and 2004.
- Won the Best Television Personality Award in 2003 for the TV series “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi”
- 2007 Virrudh won Best Actress (Jury)
favorites
- Cuisine: Gujarati, Bengali
- Food: Pizza, Chocolate, Macher Jhol Bhaat, Tomato Chutney, Jhinge Posto, Aloo Bhajaa, Ilish Machh Shorshe Diye
- Cartoon Show: Tom and Jerry
- Movies (Bollywood): Satte Pe Satta (1982), Mr. India (1987), Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Chandni (1989), Agneepath (1990), Khuda Gawah (1992), Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge ( 1995)
- Movies (Hollywood): “The Avengers” series, “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994), “The Usual Suspects” (1995), “The Godfather” (trilogy)
- Film Director: Shekhar Kapoor
- Books: Animal Farm by George Orwell, Fantasy: The Adventures of the Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
assets/property
She had about Rs. 3.83 Crore movables and Rs. Real estate Rs 728 crore.
Salary/Net Worth
Smriti Irani’s salary as a Member of Parliament is Rs. 1 Lakh (with additional allowance) (as of 2019). Her net worth is approximately Rs. 11.11 Crore (as on 2019).
fact
- Smriti Irani’s grandfather was a member of RSS Swayamsevak.
- When Smriti was a schoolgirl in Delhi, her parents invited an astrologer to predict the future of their three daughters. The astrologer said that while their two younger daughters will be fine, “Badi Ladki (Smriti) Ka Kuchh Nahi Hoga (Nothing will happen to your elder daughter)”.
- She revealed in an interview that even her parents did not have any big dreams for her and hoped that she would marry a good boy.
- When she grows up, she wants to be a civil servant or a journalist. But her father disapproved of her doing so because he thought neither career was suitable for her.
Smriti Irani in her student days
- Subsequently, she packed her bags and moved to Mumbai, where she participated in the Femina Miss India beauty pageant in 1998 but failed to make it to the top 9. The winner of that year’s competition was Lymaraina D’Souza.
- Early in her career, she worked as a waiter at McDonald’s in Bandra, Mumbai. Smriti said of her job at McDonald’s:
All I wanted then was to graduate to the next level where I would be the one standing in McDonald’s welcoming customers. This means more money. “
- Smriti was first discovered by television producer Shobha Kapoor (Ekta Kapoor’s mother) when she was working with the producers of the show “Bakeman’s Ooh La La”.
- Smriti said she has never watched any episode of her super hit serial Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.
- She worked in various modeling jobs before entering the television industry.
- She reportedly had some differences with Ekta Kapoor and quit Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi in 2007. However, she made a comeback in a 2008 special.
Smriti Irani and Ekta Kapoor
- In 2001, she also played the role of “Goddess Sita” in Zee TV’s Ramayana.
Smriti Irani in Ramayana
- In 2003, when ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ was still at its peak, Smriti Irani joined the BJP as the party was looking for a high-profile acting star to join their party.
- She is also the most visible face of the BJP in media interactions.
- She is fluent in six languages namely Hindi, English, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi and Bengali.
- While she was campaigning for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Amethi constituency, a fire broke out in a village in Amethi. Smriti helped locals put out the fire.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education