Zeenat Aman says many of her films ‘haven’t aged well’, they make her ‘cringe’: ‘My younger followers would be appalled’

Zeenat Aman often gives some interesting trivia about her film through her Instagram profile.

New Delhi | July 5, 2023 09:56 PM IST

3 min read

Zeenat Aman remembers her Chhailla Babu days. (Photo: Instagram/thezeenataman)

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Veteran actor Zeenat Aman often takes to Instagram and shares some unheard anecdotes from her time in the movies. In her latest post, she uploaded a behind-the-scenes picture from her 1977 suspense thriller film Chailla Babu. Zeenat mentioned that certain scenes from the film now make her cringe.

Chhailla Babu was directed by director Joy Mukherjee and also starred Rajesh Khanna. Zeenat posted a black-and-white picture from the shooting of the film, which was at that time happening in Goa.

She wrote in the caption, “Chhailla Babu was a suspense thriller that rocked the box office in 1977. It was produced by the lovely and easy going Shomu Mukherjee, directed by Joy Mukherjee and starred Rajesh Khanna. Romance, action, music, drama – it had everything in spades. Including a long drawn out “nahiiiiiiiin” by yours truly , which I think we can agree is pretty much the hallmark of Bollywood masala. This snapshot was captured in between takes of the climactic action sequence that we shot at sea in Goa. And yes, I got to throw some punches too.”

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Her caption further spoke about her costume in the film and how the younger generation now would find certain scenes of the film ‘cringeworthy’. Zeenat wrote, “My outfits in the film were awesomely flamboyant. So what am I wearing here? A black and pink (fake) leather bustier, a matching skirt, a scarf, and knee-high boots. And the entire ensemble was embellished with metallic studs! How’s that for an “outfit of the day”?”

She added, “As an aside, I will admit that so many of the films that we made back then haven’t aged too well. In fact, my younger followers would be appalled by the “red Indian” sequence in this film. Quite frankly, it makes me cringe too. Such caricatures were entirely the norm back then, and I am glad that I know better now!”

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The actor received words of praise and encouragement in the comments. A follower wrote, “Please write a book of all these stories. It will be such a wonderful read for us! These vintage photos, your stories, insights, learnings – and some life tips for us weirdos trying to navigate through the craziness of this world.” Another follower wrote, “What u wear looks acceptable now reason being u and parveen babi were much ahead of the times. I still feel both u wore clothes that never went out of fashion.”

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