Was accepted in characters with gray shades: Zeenat Aman

Veteran actor Zeenat Aman believes her journey in Indian cinema was outlined by characters with gray shades that finally led filmmakers to jot down fascinating roles particularly for her.

Looking again at her journey within the movie trade, the Bollywood star, who dominated the 70s and 80s with hits comparable to Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Qurbaani, Dhund, Don, Manoranjan and Yaadon Ki Baarat, on Tuesday mentioned folks accepted her in unconventional characters.

“I was accepted by the audiences at that time in characters which had grey shades, whether it was a drug addict, or someone who died of an overdose. There was an audience acceptance. Subsequently, writers wrote parts for me where it was a good bad girl, good girl and other kinds of roles that did well,” the actor mentioned at an interactive session organised by FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) right here.

Titled ‘Stories that matter with Zeenat Aman’, the session additionally included FICCI Flo president Jayanti Dalmia and Vinita Bimbhet.

Zeenat Aman, thought-about one of the vital glamorous stars of her period together with the late Parveen Babi, recalled how her journey began with a minor position within the 1971 film Hulchul.

Aman mentioned, “My journey in Indian cinema started when I was a teenager and I stopped working when I became a mother. Along the way, there were many milestones.”

“I had the good fortune of working with a lot of actor-directors like Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Amjad Khan, Feroz Khan and Sanjay Khan. All these filmmakers were actors themselves. So they brought that extra bit of creativity to the table,” she added.

The actor mentioned she by no means bothered in regards to the male lead reverse her in a movie however was all the time conscious of the director she was collaborating with.
“It didn’t matter to me who my leading man was. What always mattered to me was who my director and writer were. I could do scenes with anybody but I needed a good director behind the camera and a writer,” she mentioned.

Zeenat Aman revealed that the hardest movies of her profession have been Hare Rama Hare Krishna and Satyam Shivam Sundaram.

Talking about how she bagged Dev Anand’s 1971 movie Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Aman mentioned it was OP Ralhan, the director of Hulchul, who launched her to the Bollywood star.

“The film’s director OP Ralhan knew that Dev Anand was looking for an actress for the film. A lot of the actresses had turned down the role because they wanted to play the romantic lead. So Mr OP Ralhan set up a meeting where Mr Dev Anand met me and I was in my room. Truth be told, at that time we were planning to leave the country and move away. So I think he was just impressed with the attitude and the persona that I had at the time. I was smoking a pipe, wearing a skirt, and he thought to himself that I would be perfect for the role,” she mentioned.

Hare Rama Hare Krishna catapulted Zeenat Aman to immediate fame and stardom. She received the Filmfare award for Best Supporting Actress Award for her portrayal of a westernised and emotionally disturbed junkie named Janice.

The actor mentioned the movie trade has undergone some optimistic modifications over time as there may be pay parity among the many female and male stars.

“(During my time), it was wishful thinking, to hope for any semblance of equality. There was none at all. But I think things are much better now. I think our girls are doing wonderful projects. They’re doing women oriented films and they are asking for fair pay.”

Zeenat Aman, who final featured in filmmaker Ashutosh Gowarikar’s interval drama Panipat in 2019, revealed that she’s going to quickly be making her OTT debut.

“I have just completed two web series. I enjoy my work but in short quantity,” Aman mentioned, including that she not too long ago featured in a play known as Dearest Bapu, Love Kasturba.

The actor mentioned she has sure plans for the long run as she needs to pursue issues that she has not been capable of do in her profession.

“As one approaches the golden years of 1’s life, I believe there’s a whole lot of reflection that goes on. The journeys that we now have, we’re all heroines of our personal tales, each certainly one of us.

“So there is a lot of introspection and a lot of looking back. I think that in the future, I’m going to try a lot of things that I haven’t done. Maybe I would write, maybe direct a project and a lot of things that I look forward to,” she added.

Zeenat Aman mentioned she has deliberately determined to keep away from social media not like a few of her contemporaries.

“I’ve deliberately stayed away from social media. It’s been an knowledgeable choice. But I had my justifiable share of trolling with all these magazines in my time. Every month there can be one thing actually bizarre to take care of.

“I think one should not really take it seriously because it has nothing to do with the reality of who you are or what you are in real life. It’s just something that exists on the side and let it be,” she added.