Zeenat Aman recalls how Rishi Kapoor was made to look taller than her on screen: 'He was propped up on two cushions'

Zeenat Aman expressed pleasure in her cameo in Hum Kisise Kum Naheen, sharing a humorous anecdote about using cushions to make Rishi Kapoor appear taller.

Actor Zeenat Aman has created quite a fan following with her candid anecdotes on social media. The Qubani actor recently shared an interesting story when she worked with Bollywood legend Rishi Kapoor, highlighting how it was considered "unappealing for an actress to be taller than her on-screen love interest".

Zeenat Aman and Rishi Kapoor is a still from 1977 film Hum Kisise Kum Naheen.

Zeenat Aman on working with Rishi Kapoor

Zeenat took to Instagram and shared two clips from 1977 film Hum Kisise Kum Naheen. One was a romantic scene with Rishi and another was a clip from the timeless iconic qawwali, Hai Agar Dushman Zamana Gum Naheen. In a long note, she shared an interesting BTS incident from the film, which talked about director Nasir Hussain using not one, but two cushions to make Rishi look taller than her.

She wrote, “Here’s the truth, of all the men I worked with from the Kapoor khandan, Rishi and I interacted the least both socially and professionally. In fact, in all the years that our careers overlapped, we only featured together in this one song. That too because Director Nasir Hussain had me pinned as a bit of a lucky talisman that year. Why? Because Yaadon ki Baaraat, his previous film in which I had starred, had been a blockbuster hit."

She admitted that she was pleased by the success of Yaadon ki Baaraat and hence could not refuse Nasir's request to make a special appearance in Hum Kisise Kum Naheen. "My role involved just this one Qawalli number (the only one of my career) and a romantic scene with Chintu ji," she added.

While talking about working with late Rishi Kapoor, the actor mentioned that within rigid gender constructs of Hindi cinema, it was considered unappealing for female actors to be taller than their male counterparts. Hence, the director used more than one cushion to help make Rishi look taller than her in one of the scenes

“Those of you who follow this page know that my co-stars often found my height prohibitive. Within the rigid gender constructs of Hindi cinema (or perhaps world cinema), it was considered unappealing for an actress to be taller than her on-screen love interest. So there we were, Chintu ji and I flirting for the camera on a russet leather couch, but for some reason our seated positions made our height difference more strikingly apparent. Much to Chintu ji’s chagrin, Nasir Saab propped him up on first one and then two cushions to make him appear taller than me!,” Zeenat wrote.

About Zeenat Aman's latest project

Zeenat is currently recuperating after being recently admitted to the hospital due to health concerns. She is a part of Netflix’s The Royals, which also stars Ishaan Khatter, Bhumi Pednekar, Nora Fatehi, Vihaan Samat and Sakshi Tanwar in pivotal roles. The show released on Netflix on May 9.