Raj Kapoor made casteist remark against Zarina Wahab, but meant it as a compliment: ‘He would call Waheeda Rehman the same word’

Zarina Wahab recently clarified her statement about Raj Kapoor, and said that his casteist remark was a compliment to her because he used the same word for Waheeda Rehman.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | Updated: November 29, 2024 06:30 PM IST

3 min read

When Raj Kapoor made a casteist remark about Zarina Wahab. (Photo: Zarina Wahab/Instagram/IE Archives)

Zarina Wahab is known for her critically acclaimed roles in Chitchor and Gopal Krishna. The actor trained at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. It was at this time that she met the legendary filmmaker Raj Kapoor, who invited her entire batch to his farmhouse in Loni. During their meet and greet session, Raj Kapoor made a ‘casteist’ remark about her, which took her by surprise.

In a recent interview with Lehren Retro, she was asked about the story, and she clarified, “This is incorrect. People have taken it completely out of context. What really happened was, back then, whenever Raj Kapoor used to visit his farm in Loni, he used to call people from the Pune institute (Film and Television Institute of India). We all went, all dolled up. I don’t know what he was thinking, he looked at me and (made a casteist remark). I thought to myself, ‘I dressed up well, why did he use that word for me?’ I felt bad but I didn’t react.”

She added, “When I was leaving, he stopped me and asked, ‘Do you know why I used that word about you?’ I said, ‘No, sir.’ He then clarified, ‘I called you that word because that’s what I call Waheeda Rehman’. That suddenly lifted my mood. What an amazing compliment he gave me. He compared me to Waheeda Rehman. I was flattered.”

ALSO READ | Tamannaah Bhatia, Jimmy Shergill and Avinash Tiwary at SCREEN LIVE in Mumbai today

Zarina then recalled doing something silly. She said, “I was so silly. After all this, when I went to Mumbai. I met Waheeda ji and told her, ‘I look like you’. She looked at me, and she was like maybe the jawline is like me. She was just being kind, we don’t have any similarities. God knows what Raj Kapoor saw in me.”

Previously, speaking about the same incident, Zarina told Amar Ujala, “When I was studying at Pune Film Institute, Raj Kapoor used to come there often to meet Shailendra Singh. Shailendra was trying to become an actor and during this time he had also sung the songs filmed on Rishi Kapoor in Raj Kapoor’s film Bobby. Yes, one day Raj Kapoor did say to me that you look like a sweeper, I asked him why are you saying so? So he said that I call Zeenat Aman also by the same name. I see Zeenat Aman’s image in you. This was a big compliment from Raj Kapoor for me and people twisted it and presented it as something else.”

From the homepage