By
Sharada Iyer
The night of October 5th, 2024, turned a memorable event when followers of the legendary actress Zeenat Aman thronged to attend the event- ‘Yeh Shaam Mastani’ – a musical-conversational night together with her, held on the well-known Shanmukhananda Corridor, Sion, Mumbai. Delivered to us by Saregama Dwell, this system not solely had a terrific band with singers singing well-liked songs from her movies, however the actress herself graced the stage and sat all through this system sharing fascinating anecdotes from her inimitable journey in Bollywood. The occasion was compered by RJ Anirudh.
As soon as an icon, at all times an icon. Zeenat Aman stays until right now the ‘authentic’ in a world of copycats and plagiaristic kinds. She was born to look glamorous and this was evident to every body current that night when the whole auditorium stood up in unison to offer Zeenat Aman a standing ovation as she entered grooving to her iconic quantity ‘Dum Maaro Dum…’ from the movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna. Wearing a blazing pink outfit befitting her famend basic type one may see that age had not dared to decrease an iota of her effervescence and he or she retained the identical sophistication, class, poise, and charisma so attribute of her character.
The concept behind the occasion was to pay tribute to this iconic star-actress the place she would come on stage personally and discuss her fascinating journey- how she obtained into movies, her interactions together with her male co-stars and co-heroines, her pleasant relationship together with her administrators and the way comfy she was together with her picture of a sex-symbol. She answered all of the questions candidly with out holding again something and spoke at size at how her picture as perceived by her followers and conjured by her producers and administrators was a far cry from what she was in actual life.
Ushering in a very westernized type of dressing involving flowing culottes, quick skirts, bikinis, and robes, together with her hair falling free on her shoulders, she revolutionized the picture of the heroine perpetually and until date the present lot are attempting to duplicate her type. No surprise these days there was not a single one that had not been stunned by her character. She stays a uncommon mix of magnificence, grace, sensuality, sophistication, and intelligence.
She had fond reminiscences of all her male co-stars from Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Randhir Kapoor to Sanjeev Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Dharmendra, and Amitabh Bachchan. Whereas the one actor who intimidated her a bit of had been Rajesh Khanna as a result of he was on the peak of his superstardom when she signed Ajnabee reverse him, she was all reward for Amitabh’s self-discipline and punctuality which most likely defined his longevity within the business.
She had had a childhood far-off from the business despite the fact that her father Amanullah Khan had been one of many screenwriters of Hindi movie classics like Mughal-e-Azam and Pakeezah. He had been a prolific author typically writing beneath the pen title of ‘Aman’, which she took on as her surname. Her dad and mom separated when she was two years previous and he or she had a German stepfather. Thereafter she studied in a convent boarding faculty the place she and her associates grew up watching solely English movies and later went to California to finish her increased training.
Rising up with full publicity to western tradition, she had not been fluent in Hindi when Dev Anand approached her for the function in Hare Rama Hare Krishna, however he was so impressed together with her character that he took her display screen check in English and later saved a tutor to enhance her Hindi. She shared an ideal rapport with all her directors- Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, B R Chopra, Shakti Samantha, Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra, Chandra Barot, Nazir Hussain and O P Ralhan, in addition to her actor-directors Feroz Khan, Sanjay Khan, Manoj Kumar, and Shammi Kapoor.
Having debuted in a lesser-known movie Hulchul directed by O P Ralhan which launched in 1971, Zeenat Aman adopted it up with a flop movie Hungama, however quickly shot to fame together with her iconic character of Jasbir/Janice in Dev Anand’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna the place she performed his sister. However such was the influence of her screen-presence, glamour and charisma within the movie and aided by the magnificent ‘Dum Maaro Dum…’ track, there was no wanting again for her. The movie not solely catapulted her to dizzying heights of stardom however after this movie she was by no means solid in a sister function once more. Each hero needed her to be his heroine together with Dev Anand himself!
She said that again then, she had no qualms carrying the skimpy outfits and bikinis as she had full confidence in herself to hold it out and had belief within the administrators for the best way they offered her on display screen. She emphasised that she had been a really hard-working, punctual, and disciplined actress devoted in direction of her craft and solely specializing in giving her a hundred percent to what the director needed. She had fond reminiscences of director B R Chopra for giving her the very best function of her profession and for taking her enter and her consolation stage at each step within the movie Insaaf Ka Tarazu particularly within the picturization of the 2 rape scenes. It was actually a daring movie for its time.
After her marriage she had taken a break from movies for some time, although she did seem in some small roles in just a few odd movies and made her presence felt in award exhibits and a few interviews. It was her son Zahaan who coaxed her into sharing her tales of her movie journey on social media. Although initially a bit of apprehensive, in February 2023 she opened her Instagram account and eventually made her debut on social media. Her language, her anecdotes from her movie profession, her observations, and reflections on varied matters all advised with a uncommon honesty and a contact of humor, turned an on the spot hit not solely with followers of her era but in addition a wholly new era woke as much as this distinctive character of Zeenat Aman.
Very like her sensational movie journey, her social media journey can also be rocking and he or she is now wanted many manufacturers for collaborations. She realized that right here was a spot the place she may very well be true to herself and never be judged by any picture and he or she began having enjoyable and interacts with all of the followers regularly. The stroll down reminiscence lane has been a totally pleasant one for all her followers and followers alike.
On the work entrance, she admits that at this stage of her life she simply desires to have enjoyable and work with individuals who make her comfy. She is able to discover new roles and is open to the problem of enjoying completely different sorts of characters. She will probably be seen in a homicide thriller titled Margaon: The Closed File, and has an attention-grabbing movie with Shabana Azmi titled Bun Tikki. Followers are wanting ahead to the approaching collectively of the 2 veteran actresses. They had been final seen collectively in Ashanti which launched in 1982 and it is going to be attention-grabbing to look at them sharing display screen house after 4 a long time!
When the Saregama Dwell crew approached her for the present, she realized that she had a big physique of labor unfold over three a long time and had heaps to share together with her followers. She was honored to be the primary star to be approached for this type of a musical-conversational present. From the response she obtained from her followers on her Instagram, she was touched and filled with gratitude to know that she nonetheless had so many followers on the market and other people fondly bear in mind their ‘Zeenie Child’ (as she was addressed again then) even after so a few years.
She is without doubt one of the few star-actresses to have had a few of the finest songs of that period picturized on her and she shared the story behind many of those songs throughout this system. To encapsulate a journey like hers in only one night is neither sensible nor does it justify the quantum of her physique of labor, however such a small glimpse itself was very satisfying to all of us within the viewers. The night was so pleasant that we by no means realized how and when the 4 hours simply flew by.
Proficient singers Pragati Nagpal and Pranav Chandran carried out with a dwell band and dropped at life lots of her iconic numbers. Beginning the night with the basic ‘Dum Maaro Dum…’ (Hare Rama Hare Krishna), they ended the evening with one other blockbuster track ‘Aap jaisa koi mere zindagi me aaye toh baat ban jaaye…’ (Qurbani).
Different chartbusters which they sang included ‘Do labzon ki hai dil ki kahaani…’ (The Nice Gambler), ‘Khatouba, Khatouba, kitne dewaane mere…’ (Alibaba Aur Chaalis Chor), ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram…’ (Satyam Shivam Sundaram), ‘Ek Ajnabi haseena se…’ and ‘Bheegi bheegi raaton mein…’ (Ajnabee), ‘Hai hai yeh majboori…’ (Roti Kapda Aur Makaan), ‘Hum bewafa hargiz na the… (Shalimar), ‘Khaike paan banaraswaala…’ (Don), ‘Mere Angne mein…’ (Laawaris), Samundar mein nahake aur bhi namkeen ho gayi ho…’ (Pukar), ‘Panna ki tamanna hai ke Heera mujhe mil jaaye…’ (Heera Panna), ‘Chura Liya hai tumne jo dil ko…’ (Yaadon Ki Baraat).
Kudos to the crew of Saregama Dwell for arising with such an thought to get a star from an period passed by and get her to speak about her journey in entrance of her followers. Such alternatives are so uncommon and it was a totally pleasant expertise.
Wanting again at her intriguing journey, she has no regrets on the selections she made and the errors she could have dedicated for she embraced with dignity the playing cards future dealt her and it’s the mixture of all that which created the persona of Zeenat Aman and the individual she in the end turned. Her philosophy in life had at all times been, ‘You win some, you lose some’ and that each expertise teaches us one thing. When requested by somebody within the viewers if there was one movie track which might sum up her life, she selected this Rafi quantity from the 1961 movie Hum Dono – ‘Essential zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya, har fikr ko dhuen mein udaata chala gaya…’.
Thank You Zeenat Aman for this memorable night… We love you!
