People | Autumn Sonata

4th Quarter, 2003

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Autumn Sonata

Photographs by Ayesha Broacha; Text by Anil Thakraney

PUBLISHED: Volume 11, Issue 4, Fourth Quarter 2003

The glamour goddess of the ’70s tentatively returns to the strobe lights with a cameo in Boom and a debut stage performance in Chupke Chupke.

ANIL THAKRANEY Keeps a date with Zeenat Aman and finds, to his relief, the legendary sex appeal and sensuality quite intact

Meeting ‘Zeenie Baby’ is like taking a sharp U-turn down the more beautiful paths of memory lane. I grew up on the ravishing ‘actor’s’ (ever since Shabana Azmi called herself that, it has become official!) movies in the ’70s and the ’80s and came perilously close to sending Hare Rama’s…hippy chick a note written in clotted blood. I suspect I wasn’t the only Indian male lusting for the seductive goddess who single-handedly brought about a sexual revolution on the desi screen. And she peaked in Raj Kapoor’s Satyam Shivam Sundaram, a film clearly ahead of its time, a film that boasted many sexy firsts. The first time an actor dared to expose that generously. It had the first lingering kiss of Indian cinema. And for the first time in her entire career, the role gave Aman an opportunity to showcase her talent through a doubtlessly challenging performance. Sadly, as usual, what got showcased instead was her overriding sensuality, and once again, the acting abilities got lost inside the curves of her ‘physical assets’. Years later, Aman richly frowns on what happened. "I agreed to do SSS because of my wish to work with Rajji, but honestly, I didn’t realise that the focus would be so much on my physical attributes." She didn’t? Whoa!

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