Zeenat Aman is without a shred of doubt one of the most desirable women of India. In the 1970s and 80s, when she ruled the roost, she fell in love twice—and fell really hard, so hard that it left her scarred for life.
Both the men she loved intensely were Khans. One of them she married. The other she wanted to marry. When she insisted on marriage, he thrashed her publicly to prove his loyalty to his wife. It left her with one permanently injured eye and a scarred soul for eternity.
The marriage wasn’t easy either. Zeenat once told me she married only to have children. “I desperately wanted to be a mother. I had no siblings. I was the only child. After 15 years in the movie business, I was ready to have my own family. And to have a family you need to be married.”
To Zeenat, marriage was imperative for motherhood. “In a society I could never impose my own morality—no what it may be—on my children. I think it’s very wrong to be an unwed mother. You give your child the stigma of illegitimacy. So would you have gone without marriage, if you didn’t want to be a mother? Definitely! I got married in October 1985 and the next October, I had my son with me. I’ve loved being a mom, though it hasn’t been easy for me being the nurturer and the bread provider.”
In once asked her if she has forgiven the men who have been nasty to her.
Zeenat was very quiet for a while. She then said, “I don’t dwell on the past. I’m so full of ‘now’, so happy for the gift of each day. When I walk into the house the dogs bathe me in such a warm welcome. That’d all I need. So yes, I’ve forgiven them completely. I see no point in holding grudges. I’d rather not have any negativity within me. It’s all gone, washed away. With every passing year it’s only the here and the now that seems important.”
Zeenat Aman started her career in Bollywood with Hulchul directed by O P Ralhan. It was Dev Anand’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna which catapulted her to fame. Luckily, the sister’s role didn’t typecast her as the sibling. However, the audiences refused to accept Dev and Zeenat as a romantic pair, although Dev being Dev, never stopped trying. In Heera Panna, Zeenat was not Dev’s love interest. Raakhee Gulzar was.
Among all the actresses of her time, Zeenat worked with the maximum actors turned directors: Dev Anand, Manoj Kumar, Feroz Khan, O.P. Ralhan, Amjad Khan. Qurbani happened at a time when all kinds of special films were happening to Zeenat’s career: Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Shalimar, Abdullah, Qurbani.
Looking back at her slew of successes in the 1970s and 80s, Zeenat says, “I guess it was about being in the right place at the right time.When I did those films I had no idea they’d be important later. I just went by instinct. I think I had good innings in my earlier days. I worked with the very best directors including the great Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, also Shammi Kapoor, Feroz Khan, Nasir Hussain, Shakti Samanta, Manoj Kumar, Manmohan Desai and Raj Khosla…Gosh, that is quite a list! I learnt so much from these masters. I enjoyed every bit of the challenge that was thrown at me when I had to play a disfigured tribal girl in Satyam Shivam Sundaram or a happy sex worker in Manoranjan.”
Looking back, Zeenat refuses to take her stardom seriously. “Just enjoy the moment. Today I’m so happy to have the gift of life. I see so many of my colleagues in the entertainment industry not being around any longer. It’s so sad.I am just happy to be alive and healthy. I have two sons who mean the world to me. What more can I ask for?”
Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.
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