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Zeenat Aman recalls returning to films as ‘cracks started to show' in marriage with Mazhar Khan: ‘Wanted to escape…’
Zeenat Aman reflected on her return to acting in the courtroom drama Gawaahi, filmed shortly after her first son's birth.
Bollywood veteran Zeenat Aman often shares nostalgic anecdotes from her life and career on social media. She recently opened up about one of the most difficult phases of her personal life. In a heartfelt post, the actor recalled how she made a comeback to films at a time when her marriage was beginning to fall apart, and how her mother’s unwavering support helped her return to work.
Zeenat Aman calls herself comeback queen
On Thursday, Zeenat took to Instagram and shared a clip from one of her old interviews, filmed when she was returning to the screen after a long break. Along with the video, she penned a note explaining the story behind it. She wrote, “How many comebacks can a gal have? When it comes to me, apparently, the answer is unlimited!”
She revealed that the interview was from the sets of Gawaahi, which was shot in 1988, just two years after the birth of her first son, Azaan, and shortly before the conception of her second son, Zahaan. She added, “At this point in my life, the rosy picture of domestic bliss that I had conjured up while at the peak of my career was beginning to fade. Marriage and motherhood had both arrived, but the former was starting to show cracks. I was back living with my own mother, with little Azaan in tow, in her flat in south Bombay when an unexpected script arrived at my doorstep. It was a low-budget courtroom drama based on Ayn Rand’s play The Night of January 16th, and it was terrifically pitched to me by producer Vivek Vaswani and debut director Anant Balani.”
She further shared how her mother’s support helped her return to film sets. “Having once wanted to escape my professional life, I now wanted to escape my personal life and remember my identity as something beyond daughter, mother and wife! My amazing Amma stepped in to help out with Azaan, and that allowed me to accept the role of murder accused Janhvi Kaul in Gawaahi. We shot entirely in Mumbai, and the cast included the highly decorated Shekhar Kapur and the talented Ashutosh Gowariker,” she wrote.
Zeenat revealed that she rewatched the film recently and was reminded that it was a bold and unconventional whodunnit. She added that it is worth watching for those who enjoy slow-burning legal dramas with a touch of passion and an unexpected twist. Concluding her note, she wrote, “This interview clip is from the sets of Gawaahi, and for me personally, it is madly nostalgia-provoking. The role marked my return to films after giving birth, and so, of course, it was also hailed as a comeback. One of many I’ve apparently had since! I guess you can call me a comeback queen.”
About Zeenat Aman's marriage to Mazhar Khan
Zeenat Aman married actor Sanjay Khan in 1978, but their marriage was annulled in 1979. She later tied the knot with actor-director Mazhar Khan in 1985, with whom she had two children, Azaan and Zahaan. Earlier, during a conversation with Simi Garewal, Zeenat revealed that stepping out of her marriage with Mazhar was a “question of self-preservation”. She shared that Mazhar had become addicted to prescription drugs and painkillers, at one point taking seven a day, and doctors had warned that there was a strong possibility his kidneys would fail. Zeenat revealed that even after their children asked him to stop, he did not listen. Mazhar passed away in 1998 due to kidney failure.
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