<p>As a stunning beauty with brains, she changed the very image of Hindi film heroines with her arrival in the early 70s. The demure, saree or salwar-kameez clad, pativrataa and often plump and earthy heroine gave way to the sophisticated, smart and sensuous woman who wore Western outfits and yet wasn’t either a vamp or a moll. She was slim, with a near perfect figure and could carry off Indian outfits as well.<br /><br />Cast in a tiny role in O P Ralhan’s Hulchul and then in a slightly longer role in Hungama, Zeenat stormed the nation with Dev Anand’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1972) as the ‘Dum maro dum’ drug addict sister of the hero. It was around 1973 that Zeenat entered her peak phase, defying conventional norms to run a close second to top gun Hema Malini. She did a spectrum of mostly glamorous roles that still had variety and a good amount of substance. <br /><br />Dhund (the suffering widow), Yaadon Ki Baaraat (as the swinging rich girl), Manoranjan (the desi streetwalker), Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (the mercenary lover), Satyam Shivam Sundaram (the village girl with the ethereal voice) and Insaf Ka Tarazu (the rape victim) were among her major triumphs in a ‘hit-list’.<br /><br />Post-1982, Zeenat’s career took a slump but she continued to do a few films, of which her roles in Gawaahi, Baat Ban Jaye, Bandhan Kachchey Dhaagon Ka, Yaadon Ki Kasam and Namumkin (her last release) were consequential, though the films did not work. As the 80s ended and 90s began, Zeenat went off the camera and tried to make her second marriage work. Since the late 90s, she acted in Bhopal Express, Boom!, Jaana — Let’s Fall in Love, Ugly Aur Pugli and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron.<br /><br />“I don’t want to be just a mother or bhabhi,” she smiles. Not looking a day over 45, the 58-year-old actress still makes heads turn. Warm and friendly, she is more concerned about why I decline a pastry. “Let’s just chat and then you can write down what you remember,” she suggests. Delayed by traffic for our appointment, she apologies as if she has perpetrated a major crime. There is no cursory ‘Sorry I’m late!’ said in a ‘cannot-help-it-you-should-understand-I-am-a-celeb’ manner. Class, in short, is what Zeenat Aman will always be about.<br /><br />Excerpts from an interview:<br /><br />How do you view cinema today?<br />We are making so much interesting cinema. I am happy that things have changed from a time when there were no good roles for senior actresses, which was sad because everyone grows with time, and an actor is no different. In terms of experience, I am a more evolved person than I was during my peak years. I can bring greater depth to my roles now as compared to earlier, when I would deliver lines without the depth to match.<br /><br />You were a sex symbol in your time. Was that an asset or a handicap?<br />I think it was a little of both though I do feel that because of that tag there were parts of me that were not tapped as an actress. But even now it feels good when I am remembered and even addressed as Zeenie Baby. A successful image always makes the artiste suffer. <br /><br />You had Indian parents. So from where did the Westernised image come?<br />Well, I was two when my parents divorced. I was sent to a boarding school in Panchgani from where I moved to Los Angeles at 17 on a scholarship. When I returned, I modelled for setups like Air India and Emami, and I created a sensation by being featured on the covers of the only two women’s magazines of that time, Femina and Eves’ Weekly, <br />simultaneously. Some friends of mine then suggested that I participate in the Miss India pageant. I did,and won the Miss India contest, and later the Miss Asia-Pacific crown. Then a family friend, O P Ralhan-saab, offered me a small role in Hulchul. <br /><br />Where you and Kabir Bedi were like junior artistes, according to Bedi.<br />(Smiles) I would grumble to him about that. But it was Ralhan-saab who came to know that Dev-saab was looking out for a new face for the role of a drug-addict in Hare Rama Hare Krishna. He called Dev-saab for dinner and later Dev-saab took a screen test, and I was in.<br /><br />And the rest is history.<br />Well, it was not so simple. Hulchul was something I did for Ralhan-saab and while doing it, I had also taken up Hungama, a film dominated by comedians like Kishore Kumar and Mehmood where my hero was Vinod Khanna. At that point of time, my mom had remarried and my German stepfather had business interests in Germany and so it was decided that we all shift to Germany. So when Dev-saab told me that I was chosen, I begged my mother to stay on for a couple of months as most of the film would be shot in Nepal and I could not go there alone. After the shoot was over, Dev-saab advised me to wait till the film was released as he felt that I could make a career here. Finally, I never went, neither did my mom and my poor stepfather had to shuttle back and forth between Germany and us!<br /><br />But what made you do those insignificant films towards the end, like ‘Yehi Hai Aurat’ and‘Daku Hasina’?<br /><br />Well, I had worked with their directors B R Ishara and Ashok Roy earlier and liked them. Daku Hasina was fun, riding horses and so on, though I was eight months pregnant for some of the sequences and they had to avoid my close-ups because of my tummy. I have grown from a girl to a woman in this industry. I feel privileged that I worked with the best names in the business.</p>.<p>But you did a play called ‘Chupkay Chupkay’. How was that experience?<br />Oh, it was fantastic! It made me realise why they say that the stage is an actor’s medium. <br /></p>
<p>As a stunning beauty with brains, she changed the very image of Hindi film heroines with her arrival in the early 70s. The demure, saree or salwar-kameez clad, pativrataa and often plump and earthy heroine gave way to the sophisticated, smart and sensuous woman who wore Western outfits and yet wasn’t either a vamp or a moll. She was slim, with a near perfect figure and could carry off Indian outfits as well.<br /><br />Cast in a tiny role in O P Ralhan’s Hulchul and then in a slightly longer role in Hungama, Zeenat stormed the nation with Dev Anand’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1972) as the ‘Dum maro dum’ drug addict sister of the hero. It was around 1973 that Zeenat entered her peak phase, defying conventional norms to run a close second to top gun Hema Malini. She did a spectrum of mostly glamorous roles that still had variety and a good amount of substance. <br /><br />Dhund (the suffering widow), Yaadon Ki Baaraat (as the swinging rich girl), Manoranjan (the desi streetwalker), Roti Kapada Aur Makaan (the mercenary lover), Satyam Shivam Sundaram (the village girl with the ethereal voice) and Insaf Ka Tarazu (the rape victim) were among her major triumphs in a ‘hit-list’.<br /><br />Post-1982, Zeenat’s career took a slump but she continued to do a few films, of which her roles in Gawaahi, Baat Ban Jaye, Bandhan Kachchey Dhaagon Ka, Yaadon Ki Kasam and Namumkin (her last release) were consequential, though the films did not work. As the 80s ended and 90s began, Zeenat went off the camera and tried to make her second marriage work. Since the late 90s, she acted in Bhopal Express, Boom!, Jaana — Let’s Fall in Love, Ugly Aur Pugli and Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron.<br /><br />“I don’t want to be just a mother or bhabhi,” she smiles. Not looking a day over 45, the 58-year-old actress still makes heads turn. Warm and friendly, she is more concerned about why I decline a pastry. “Let’s just chat and then you can write down what you remember,” she suggests. Delayed by traffic for our appointment, she apologies as if she has perpetrated a major crime. There is no cursory ‘Sorry I’m late!’ said in a ‘cannot-help-it-you-should-understand-I-am-a-celeb’ manner. Class, in short, is what Zeenat Aman will always be about.<br /><br />Excerpts from an interview:<br /><br />How do you view cinema today?<br />We are making so much interesting cinema. I am happy that things have changed from a time when there were no good roles for senior actresses, which was sad because everyone grows with time, and an actor is no different. In terms of experience, I am a more evolved person than I was during my peak years. I can bring greater depth to my roles now as compared to earlier, when I would deliver lines without the depth to match.<br /><br />You were a sex symbol in your time. Was that an asset or a handicap?<br />I think it was a little of both though I do feel that because of that tag there were parts of me that were not tapped as an actress. But even now it feels good when I am remembered and even addressed as Zeenie Baby. A successful image always makes the artiste suffer. <br /><br />You had Indian parents. So from where did the Westernised image come?<br />Well, I was two when my parents divorced. I was sent to a boarding school in Panchgani from where I moved to Los Angeles at 17 on a scholarship. When I returned, I modelled for setups like Air India and Emami, and I created a sensation by being featured on the covers of the only two women’s magazines of that time, Femina and Eves’ Weekly, <br />simultaneously. Some friends of mine then suggested that I participate in the Miss India pageant. I did,and won the Miss India contest, and later the Miss Asia-Pacific crown. Then a family friend, O P Ralhan-saab, offered me a small role in Hulchul. <br /><br />Where you and Kabir Bedi were like junior artistes, according to Bedi.<br />(Smiles) I would grumble to him about that. But it was Ralhan-saab who came to know that Dev-saab was looking out for a new face for the role of a drug-addict in Hare Rama Hare Krishna. He called Dev-saab for dinner and later Dev-saab took a screen test, and I was in.<br /><br />And the rest is history.<br />Well, it was not so simple. Hulchul was something I did for Ralhan-saab and while doing it, I had also taken up Hungama, a film dominated by comedians like Kishore Kumar and Mehmood where my hero was Vinod Khanna. At that point of time, my mom had remarried and my German stepfather had business interests in Germany and so it was decided that we all shift to Germany. So when Dev-saab told me that I was chosen, I begged my mother to stay on for a couple of months as most of the film would be shot in Nepal and I could not go there alone. After the shoot was over, Dev-saab advised me to wait till the film was released as he felt that I could make a career here. Finally, I never went, neither did my mom and my poor stepfather had to shuttle back and forth between Germany and us!<br /><br />But what made you do those insignificant films towards the end, like ‘Yehi Hai Aurat’ and‘Daku Hasina’?<br /><br />Well, I had worked with their directors B R Ishara and Ashok Roy earlier and liked them. Daku Hasina was fun, riding horses and so on, though I was eight months pregnant for some of the sequences and they had to avoid my close-ups because of my tummy. I have grown from a girl to a woman in this industry. I feel privileged that I worked with the best names in the business.</p>.<p>But you did a play called ‘Chupkay Chupkay’. How was that experience?<br />Oh, it was fantastic! It made me realise why they say that the stage is an actor’s medium. <br /></p>
