Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 25 (ANI): Ever since she made her Instagram debut, veteran actor Zeenat Aman has been spilling the beans about her personal and professional life. On Tuesday, the ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ actor opened up about her meeting with Dev Anand and how she bagged ‘Hare Rama, Hare Krishna’.
Zeenat took to Instagram and shared a black and white photo with Dev Anand. Zeenat penned a note on how Dev Anand who had discovered her and insisted that she stay patient for her role in ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’. Calling Dev a ‘starmaker,’ Zeenat wrote, “When entering an industry like Bollywood, every actor hopes for a starmaker. Someone who sees the glimmer of potential and ambition that has perhaps only been visible to the self thus far. Very few are so lucky as to find this person, but I was. My starmaker was Dev saab.”
She added, “It was 1970, and I think O P Ralhan was feeling quite sorry for me. He had given me a bit part in Hulchul, it had made little impact, and I was already packing my bags to relocate to Malta with my mother and stepfather.”
“Dev Saab and his Navketan team were casting for Hare Rama Hare Krishna at the time. In his largesse, O P Ralhan suggested that they meet me. I vividly remember what I wore that day. A fitted yellow top, a fawn-coloured skirt and glasses with yellow frames. My mother was at the meeting (remember, I was still in my teens). So she held forth, while I spoke when spoken to, and packed tobacco into my pipe. The meeting concluded, and a few days later the landline jangled. I was asked to come for a screen test, and that is how I came to be cast as Jasbir/Janice,” she further added.
“Oh, but the saga doesn’t end here. My family was ready to depart the country, but Dev saab persuaded my mother and I to delay our travels. So instead we flew to Kathmandu, stayed at the famous Soaltee Hotel, and waited long days to be called to set to shoot! I was frothing at the bit by the time it was finally time for my scenes. The first of which was a bus sequence. It makes me laugh to watch it now because I know I’m practically spitting out my lines in my impatience to prove myself! In those days it took much longer to make a film from start to finish. Two or three years even. My mother and I once again prepared to leave Mumbai, and yet again Dev Saab persuaded us to stay. He promised to edit quickly and get the movie into the cinemas. Sure enough, the film released, it became a huge hit, and I became a star.My immigration plans were now indefinitely postponed, and Dev Saab started writing another script with me in mind…(More tomorrow.),” she concluded.
Zeenat played a drug addict who eventually takes her own life in the 1971 film ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’, a musical drama by Dev Anand starring himself as Zeenat’s brother. Zeenat played the role of nomadic Janice in the hit film. It had many iconic songs, including ‘Dum Maaro Dum’, and ‘Phoolon Ka Taaron Ka’. (ANI)
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