Yeh Shaam Mastani: An unforgettable evening with Zeenat Aman
By
Sharada Iyer
The evening of October 5th, 2024, became a memorable occasion when fans of the legendary actress Zeenat Aman thronged to attend the event- ‘Yeh Shaam Mastani’ – a musical-conversational evening with her, held at the famous Shanmukhananda Hall, Sion, Mumbai. Brought to us by Saregama Live, the program not only had a terrific band with singers singing popular songs from her films, but the actress herself graced the stage and sat throughout the program sharing fascinating anecdotes from her inimitable journey in Bollywood. The event was compered by RJ Anirudh.
Once an icon, always an icon. Zeenat Aman remains till today the ‘original’ in a world of copycats and plagiaristic styles. She was born to look glamorous and this was evident to one and all present that evening when the entire auditorium stood up in unison to give Zeenat Aman a standing ovation as she entered grooving to her iconic number ‘Dum Maaro Dum…’ from the film Hare Rama Hare Krishna. Dressed in a blazing red outfit befitting her renowned classic style one could see that age had not dared to diminish an iota of her effervescence and she retained the same sophistication, class, poise, and charisma so characteristic of her personality.
The idea behind the event was to pay tribute to this iconic star-actress where she would come on stage personally and speak about her fascinating journey- how she got into films, her interactions with her male co-stars and co-heroines, her friendly relationship with her directors and how comfortable she was with her image of a sex-symbol. She answered all the questions candidly without holding back anything and spoke at length at how her image as perceived by her fans and conjured by her producers and directors was a far cry from what she was in real life.
Ushering in a completely westernized style of dressing involving flowing culottes, short skirts, bikinis, and gowns, with her hair falling loose on her shoulders, she revolutionized the image of the heroine forever and till date the current lot are trying to replicate her style. No wonder those days there was not a single person who had not been bowled over by her personality. She remains a rare blend of beauty, grace, sensuality, sophistication, and intelligence.
She had fond memories of all her male co-stars from Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha, Randhir Kapoor to Sanjeev Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Dharmendra, and Amitabh Bachchan. While the only actor who intimidated her a little had been Rajesh Khanna because he was at the peak of his superstardom when she signed Ajnabee opposite him, she was all praise for Amitabh’s discipline and punctuality which probably explained his longevity in the industry.
She had had a childhood far away from the industry even though her father Amanullah Khan had been one of the screenwriters of Hindi film classics like Mughal-e-Azam and Pakeezah. He had been a prolific writer often writing under the pen name of ‘Aman’, which she took on as her surname. Her parents separated when she was two years old and she had a German stepfather. Thereafter she studied in a convent boarding school where she and her friends grew up watching only English films and later went to California to complete her higher education.
Growing up with complete exposure to western culture, she had not been fluent in Hindi when Dev Anand approached her for the role in Hare Rama Hare Krishna, but he was so impressed with her personality that he took her screen test in English and later kept a tutor to improve her Hindi. She shared a great 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, as well as her actor-directors Feroz Khan, Sanjay Khan, Manoj Kumar, and Shammi Kapoor.
Having debuted in a lesser-known film Hulchul directed by O P Ralhan which released in 1971, Zeenat Aman followed it up with a flop film Hungama, but soon shot to fame with her iconic character of Jasbir/Janice in Dev Anand’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna where she played his sister. But such was the impact of her screen-presence, glamour and charisma in the film and aided by the magnificent ‘Dum Maaro Dum…’ song, there was no looking back for her. The film not only catapulted her to dizzying heights of stardom but after this film she was never cast in a sister role again. Every hero wanted her to be his heroine including Dev Anand himself!
She stated that back then, she had no qualms wearing the skimpy outfits and bikinis as she had full confidence in herself to carry it out and had trust in the directors for the way they presented her on screen. She emphasized that she had been a very hard-working, punctual, and disciplined actress dedicated towards her craft and only focusing on giving her one hundred percent to what the director wanted. She had fond memories of director B R Chopra for giving her the best role of her career and for taking her input and her comfort level at every step in the film Insaaf Ka Tarazu especially in the picturization of the two rape scenes. It was truly a bold film for its time.
After her marriage she had taken a break from films for a while, though she did appear in some small roles in a few odd films and made her presence felt in award shows and some interviews. It was her son Zahaan who coaxed her into sharing her stories of her film journey on social media. Though initially a little apprehensive, in February 2023 she opened her Instagram account and finally made her debut on social media. Her language, her anecdotes from her film career, her observations, and reflections on various topics all told with a rare honesty and a touch of humor, became an instant hit not only with fans of her generation but also an entirely new generation woke up to this unique personality of Zeenat Aman.
Much like her sensational film journey, her social media journey is also rocking and she is now sought after many brands for collaborations. She realized that here was a place where she could be true to herself and not be judged by any image and she started having fun and interacts with all the followers on a regular basis. The walk down memory lane has been a thoroughly enjoyable one for all her fans and followers alike.
On the work front, she admits that at this stage of her life she just wants to have fun and work with people who make her comfortable. She is ready to explore new roles and is open to the challenge of playing different kinds of characters. She will be seen in a murder thriller titled Margaon: The Closed File, and has an interesting film with Shabana Azmi titled Bun Tikki. Fans are looking forward to the coming together of the two veteran actresses. They were last seen together in Ashanti which released in 1982 and it will be interesting to watch them sharing screen space after four decades!
When the Saregama Live team approached her for the show, she realized that she had a large body of work spread over three decades and had lots to share with her fans. She was honored to be the first star to be approached for this kind of a musical-conversational show. From the response she got from her fans on her Instagram, she was touched and full of gratitude to know that she still had so many fans out there and people fondly remember their ‘Zeenie Baby’ (as she was addressed back then) even after so many years.
She is one of the few star-actresses to have had some of the best songs of that era picturized on her and she shared the story behind many of these songs during the program. To encapsulate a journey like hers in just one evening is neither practical nor does it justify the quantum of her body of work, but such a small glimpse itself was very satisfying to all of us in the audience. The evening was so enjoyable that we never realized how and when the four hours just flew by.
Talented singers Pragati Nagpal and Pranav Chandran performed with a live band and brought to life many of her iconic numbers. Starting the evening with the classic ‘Dum Maaro Dum…’ (Hare Rama Hare Krishna), they ended the night with another blockbuster song ‘Aap jaisa koi mere zindagi me aaye toh baat ban jaaye…’ (Qurbani).
Other chartbusters which they sang included ‘Do labzon ki hai dil ki kahaani…’ (The Great 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 team of Saregama Live for coming up with such an idea to get a star from an era gone by and get her to talk about her journey in front of her fans. Such opportunities are so rare and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Looking back at her intriguing journey, she has no regrets at the choices she made and the mistakes she may have committed for she embraced with dignity the cards destiny dealt her and it is the combination of all that which created the persona of Zeenat Aman and the person she ultimately became. Her philosophy in life had always been, ‘You win some, you lose some’ and that every experience teaches us something. When asked by someone in the audience if there was one film song which would sum up her life, she chose this Rafi number from the 1961 film Hum Dono – ‘Main zindagi ka saath nibhaata chala gaya, har fikr ko dhuen mein udaata chala gaya…’.
Thank You Zeenat Aman for this memorable evening… We love you!
