In 1973, a lovely young woman in a snowy white jumpsuit, raven black hair cascading down her shoulders as she softly strummed a guitar through a Bollywood number stole the hearts of an entire nation. The song was ironically Chura Liya Hai Tumne from the film Yaadon Ki Baaraat, and the young woman was Zeenat Aman.
Stealing hearts is almost second nature to Aman. She did it with her feisty role in Don, her demure yet sensual turn in Satyam Shivam Sundaram and as the hippie Janice in Hare Rama Hare Krishna. In fact, it was her role as a flowerchild in the latter that first got Zeenat noticed. Decades later, the iconic song Dum Maaro Dum was remade with Deepika Padukone, and has received as many brickbats as bouquets.
“I haven’t seen the remade version as yet,” confesses the ever-elegant Zeenat. “But I’m sure Deepika must have done a great job with it. As a performer, she would have done all that she was asked to.” Incidentally, among the current crop of actresses, Zeenat says it is Deepika she admires the most. “I have watched only one film of hers — Om Shanti Om — but I thought she was fabulous. I loved her on screen. I think Deepika is one of the few good actresses today, who can do justice to all her roles. She is young and beautiful and has a long way to go,” the veteran actress says.
Switching gears, Zeenat says the industry has changed a lot from the days when she and her ilk ruled the roost. “Cinema changes with every passing decade. Our times were good and we got great roles, but if you see the actresses from the current generation, they are doing a wonderful job. During our days, we didn’t have cable television or the Internet. Cinema was the only source of both entertainment and visibility. People would come to the theatres just to watch Helen performing to a song and then leave,” she reminisces, adding, “Today, the market is flooded with different kinds of entertainment. That’s why actresses have a very short shelf life. Add to that, the fact that this is a male dominated industry — it’s just not easy to sustain yourself. These young girls are very lucky that they are getting good roles. One plus point is that with so many multiplexes coming up, cinema too has had the space to evolve.”