Zeenat Aman Admits Feeling Intimidated by ‘Superstar’ Rajesh Khanna, Recalls Memorizing Lines to Prevent Mistakes
Zeenat Aman has served the showbiz for over five decades now. Interestingly, this actress known to be the beacon of boldness, confidence, and grace was once intimidated by Rajesh Khanna. Unbelievable? She herself said so in a recent interview with Film Companion and revealed what a phenomenon Khanna was.
When Zeenat Aman was intimidated by Rajesh Khanna
In a video interview, she recalled her initial days in showbiz by calling Rajesh Khanna a phenomenon. Zeenat Aman admitted that she would mug up her lines in order to not flub in front of the legendary star. She continued, “I was totally intimidated by him but did I show him? Not at all. I went to him and I performed. So when I went back to my makeup room, I was like, ‘Wow. I just gave a shot with a superstar.’ I think that’s the right attitude to have.”
For the unversed Aman and Khanna starred in several hit movies back in the 70s which included Ajanabee, Chhailla Babu, Jaanwar, and Aashiq Hoon Baharon Ka among others. On the work front, Zeenat Aman is gearing up for the release of her movie titled Bun Tikki, alongside Shabana Azmi and Abhay Deol. The movie has been bankrolled by Manish Malhotra and directed by Faraz Arif Ansari.
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Well, you’ll be shocked to know that many of his co-stars saw Rajesh Khanna entirely differently. While Asha Parekh said he was a big-time introvert, Moushumi Chatterjee claimed he played dirty. Read on for some intriguing trivia.
When Asha Parekh called Rajesh Khanna an introvert
The hit machine of the 90s first starred in the 1967 movie, Baharon Ke Sapne. In one of the interviews with ABP, Asha Parekh revealed that Khanna was an introvert and never talked a lot. She said, “He would sit in a corner and Baharaon Ke Sapne was only his second film and I was already a star.” The 81-year-old further revealed not her but actress Nanda was supposed to star in that movie but she backed out citing the character wasn’t glamorous enough.
Averting back to Rajesh Khanna, Parekh expressed, “He was introverted and I think he also had an inferiority complex at that point in time. But once he became a superstar, everything changed.” Khanna and Asha later starred together in several classics like Kati Patang (1971) and Aan Milo Sajna (1970).
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When Rajesh Khanna’s remark didn’t go down well with Moushumi Chatterjee
Moushmi also worked with Khanna in several movies including Prem Bandhan and Ghar Parivar. In one of her interviews with Lehren Retro, Chatterjee claimed that the superstar asked her if she was pregnant with Vinod Mehra’s child. She added, “Rajesh Khanna played dirty many times.”
Moushumi admitted giving back at him by saying, ‘Is it Rishi Kapoor’s child or yours?’ taking an unsounding dig at Rajesh and Dimple’s kids. Chatterjee in the same conversation revealed visiting him during his last days where Rajesh Khanna had praised her in front of the actress’ younger daughter. He said to her, ‘Your maa was mad but we were all scared of her. She doesn’t believe in any nonsense.’
Tagged as the ‘first superstar of Bollywood’, Rajesh Khanna breathed his last at his Mumbai bungalow Ashirwad on July 18, 2012. He was reportedly diagnosed with cancer in 2011 which later metastasized to his liver.
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