‘Because she cannot act, she decided to strip’: Zareen Khan says Bollywood looked down upon her after Hate Story 3

Zareen Khan on working in Hate Story 3

While the actress has spoken about the episode before, she recently revisited the controversy in detail during a conversation with Pooja Bhatt on the Mammoth Media Asia podcast. Recalling the period after Hate Story 3, Zareen said she often felt judged by people within the industry. “After I did Hate Story, a lot of people looked down on me—especially from the industry. They would say, ‘Because she cannot act, she decided to strip.’”

Zareen felt misled by Anant Mahadevan

She then described her first meeting with Mahadevan, who, according to her, assured that the film would not rely on bold scenes similar to those in Hate Story 3.

“He narrated the script in very polished English and said, ‘We are not making a Hate Story. We are making a genre noir,’ or something along those lines. I thought, okay,” she said. “But once I reached the set, every other scene ended with a kiss or suddenly required me to be in a bra or something similar.”

Zareen said she had no issue performing bold scenes in principle but felt misled about the nature of the project.

“I told him, ‘I don’t have a problem doing such scenes, but you gave me a completely different brief. Now, just because you saw that film work, you want to add these things.’ Later I realised the director was spineless. He would tell one version of the story to the producers and another to me and my costume designer Shahid Aamir.”

According to the actress, tensions soon escalated between all parties involved.

ALSO READ | The superstar who refused Rs 1.5 crore pay cheque, paid his own entourage cost: Legendary actor Vishnuvardhan asked, ‘What are my needs?’

“There was so much animosity. The producers suddenly wanted me to do a bra scene, kiss, or something provocative in almost every sequence just because I had done one such film earlier. That’s not fair,” she said.

Zareen was portrayed as ‘unprofessional’

Despite the growing conflict and miscommunication, Zareen decided to complete the film, largely because she did not want to jeopardise the producers’ investment. However, she said the situation eventually turned against her.

“I am not someone who throws tantrums. I know people’s money is at stake, so I always try to talk things out and find a middle ground. But by the time the film was finished, things had become so bad that I wasn’t even invited to the screening of my own film,” she said.

She also claimed that media reports at the time portrayed her as unprofessional. “There were articles saying I was difficult to work with. I still have messages from the director where he complains about the producers to me—but what’s done is done,” she added.

According to Zareen, the conflict eventually split the team into factions. It was no longer just a disagreement between her and Mahadevan; tensions also erupted between the director and the producers. While the producers reportedly accused Zareen of being unprofessional, Mahadevan allegedly had his own dispute with them over unpaid dues, leaving the project divided on multiple fronts.

What Anant said about the Aksar 2 controversy

Previously talking to DNA India, Anant shared: “Nobody is more prepared than me in the industry. People come to me for low-budget films with clarity and planning. I found it amusing to read allegations of confusion, extra shots, etc. I rehearse like a play. Every shot was explained during rehearsals.”

He added: “Zareen may not have been used to that kind of filming. As for the smooches, I have repeatedly said that a few kisses do not make a film erotic. These days every other film has smooches — even a Karan Johar movie has them. There was nothing vulgar in my film. In fact, we have shot longer kisses, but we didn’t want an ‘A’ certificate because we wanted women to see the film and so edited them. Even the movie is driven by Zareen’s character. She has been through the entire shoot and dubbing sessions and she was quite thrilled with the results. If there was anything to this effect, it would have come out then. She even happily confessed in her interviews that she excitedly looked forward to the female-oriented film! I don’t know if she has been instigated, but whatever she says doesn’t hold water.”