Sanaya Irani says she once heard a family saying she ‘looks like a monkey’

Television actor Sanaya Irani said that when she was in school, she got a lot of mean comments about her appearance. Once, she even heard a family say in Gujarati that she looked like a monkey.

During an appearance on Zoom’s By Invite Only, Sanaya said, “When I was in a boarding school in Ooty… I am really fair, if everybody has noticed, and I was ten times fairer then. I was looked at differently in that school. People looked at me and said ‘white cockroach’ or ‘lizard’.”

“I heard a Gujarati family once say, ‘She looks like a monkey’. They were saying it in Gujarati but I knew Gujarati, they didn’t know that. We were in school, eating ice cream and they were like ‘look at her’ because I had red cheeks, red nose, all of that. They were like, ‘She looks like a monkey.’ So, for me, when people looked at me, I always connected it to ‘they are going to say something weird about me’,” she added.

Sanaya said that she ‘always stood out’ when she was younger, because of her appearance, and did not like that. She added that she wanted to blend in with everyone else.

In 2007, Sanaya made her television debut with Left Right Left. She then played the reclusive and studious Gunjan Bhushan in Miley Jab Hum Tum, where she fell in love with television actor Mohit Sehgal. They tied the knot in 2016. In 2017, they participated in Nach Baliye 8, where they were adjudged the second runners-up.

Also read | Sanaya Irani on being ‘genetically thin’: ‘I used to eat fried food to look healthy, my parents were worried about me’

From 2011-12, Sanaya starred in Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon opposite Barun Sobti. In June, they celebrated 10 years of its launch. “Thank you for showering us with so much love over the last 10 years, it is the most overwhelming and heartwarming feeling. I feel extremely grateful for being a part of IPKKND, a show that gave me friends like family, that put me on the map and for all the love and warmth I have received from each and every one of you. Forever grateful,” she wrote in an Instagram post, thanking fans.