Smriti Zubin Irani (born 23 March 1976) is an Indian actress and politician, popularly known from the famous Hindi soap opera, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, in which she used to play the main character of Tulsi Virani.
Smriti's character Tulsi has been the playing the ideal wife, mother, family member . The huge initial success and the subsequent continued patronage of the largely female audience of the show has been instrumental in changing the fortunes of the production house Balaji Telefilms and in creating a successful genre of tearjerker family dramas, which still continues in the Indian TV industry.
In 2003, she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party which was quick to give her a ticket to fight the Lok Sabha elections from Delhi's Chandni Chowk constituency. Although she suffered a defeat in the elections, this five consecutive best actress award winner continued with the BJP while most other actors who had joined the party during that time deserted the party. Her commitment and hard work made the party realize her true potential and it made her a member of the National Executive (the highest decision making body of the Party) as also Secretary BJP Maharashtra and a member of the Maharashtra Executive. Smriti Irani while campaigning for the BJP has traveled the length and breath of India and interacted with various people understanding India’s diverse culture. She also runs her own “NGO” under the name of People for Change which is providing drinking water to the poor in India’s remote areas.
Today Smriti Irani has also turned a producer with her entertainment company Ugraya Entertainment. Its first production was in collaboration with Balaji Telefilms and the soap is called Thodi Si Zameen Thoda Sa Aasman (A little bit of land a little bit of sky) after which her company entered into a strategic alliance with the Aditya Birla Group for producing software for television with it’s first production being Virrudh (Opposite / Against) a daily soap for Sony Television (Set India).Her company has also produced two stage presentations Kuch Tum Kaho, Kuch Hum Kahein (Something you say somethings i will say) a social comedy and Maniben.Com a comedy.
On April, 2007, Smriti decided to quit Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu thi due to a fall out between her and her producer, Ekta Kapoor. Smriti's last episode was 6 June, 2007 where she dies in a truck accident.
