Daisy Bopanna is a familiar face in regional films in all four South Indian languages, and she has also acted in a host of commercials and in one Hindi movie.
Her Early Days and Education
Born on the 4th of December 1980 into an erudite and affluent Kodava family, Daisy did her schooling in Aurobindo School in Bangalore. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Bangalore’s Chitrakala Parishat.
Daisy was interested in advertising as a career and worked as a Copy Writer in Bangalore for a short time. Her interest in the performing arts bought her in touch with Preetham Koipillai and B Jayashree. She actively performed in contemporary English plays, with the Spandana Theatre Group’s in-stage productions in regional languages.
Daisy’s theatre performances got her roles in over 150 commercials in all four south Indian regional languages. Her fresh face, her theatre background and confident bearing made her a natural for a screen career.
Her Film Career
Daisy made her debut in Kannada films with Kavitha Lankesh’s ‘Bimba’ in the year 2004. The film dealt with the exploitation of child actors and Daisy’s deglamourized role came to be appreciated. The film was screened at the Berlin and Frankfurt Film Festival and honoured with several awards.
A role opposite Akshay Kumar and John Abraham in the 2005 release ‘Garam Masala’ saw Daisy in a glamorous avatar. Daisy moved to Mumbai, hoping to launch her career in Hindi films in 2005.
She got offers from filmmakers in all the four regional languages soon after and starred with Darshan in ‘Bhagavan’, with Kamal Hassan in ‘Rama Bhama Shyama’, with Mammooty in ‘Prajapathi’ and with Upendra in ‘Aishwarya’. Her role in Bhagavan, following the commercial success of Garam Masala, got her the nickname ‘Spicy Daisy’.
Daisy’s glamorous screen presence and sense of timing in films like ‘Galipatta’, ‘Thavarina Siri’, ‘Jackpot’, ‘Chakara Viyugam’ and ‘Sweet Heart’ won her a large fan following.
Her Later Career and Exit
Although she moved to Mumbai and received promising film offers post the success of ‘Garam Masala’, she was unable to accept most of them as she was affected by spinal cysts at that time. She was on enforced bed rest for a year and piled on pounds due to the forced inactivity. She had to undergo a rigorous exercise regimen to tone down again.
Daisy entered films when she was in her mid-twenties. Having worked for seven years, she settled down to domesticity in 2011.
She married Amit Jaju, a senior manager in the Fraud and Investigations section of an advisory firm, who is not connected with the film industry. The wedding was a low key affair that was held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Having had her share of media attention in an eventful career, Daisy Bopanna has won her fan’s goodwill for a happy life away from the limelight.
