Zeenat Aman and Sanjay Khan were married, confirms daughter Farah: ‘He divorced her later’

Zeenat later married Mazhar Khan in 1985, and was married to him until his death in 1998.

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Farah also spoke at length about the alleged assault that led to Zeenat’s eye injury and claimed that her father never hit Zeenat. It was reported that Zeenat was allegedly assaulted by Sanjay at a party in 1979 in the presence of his wife Zarine Khan, and in the years since, Zeenat, without naming names, has hinted that she underwent “physical abuse publicly”. Sanjay has denied these allegations.

Sanjay Khan ‘never raised his hand’ on Zeenat Aman

Talking about the incident, Farah described it as “hogwash” and said, “My father has never raised his hand on my mother or any of his daughters, and he is not a violent man to raise a finger on a woman.”

Zeenat Aman with Sanjay Khan in Dhund. (Photo: Express Archives)

Farah recalled her mother Zarine’s words, and said that she completely believes them. “My mother told me that Zeenat’s mother suffered from an eye disease… Her eye was also a little smaller, and it was something genetic that happened to her. Not something that the press wrote about. My mother told me that my father never raised his hand on Zeenat Aman. So all this nonsense about a party where my father beat her is bullsh*t,” she said.

‘Affair with Zeenat almost broke parents’ marrige’

She also recalled that her mother did not just blame Zeenat for the affair, but also blamed Sanjay. “She said your father was attracted to her, so I don’t just blame her, I blame your father as well. There was an attraction on both sides; maybe there was something wrong with their marriage at that point that it happened, or maybe it just happened,” she said.

Farah elaborated on Sanjay’s relationship with Zeenat and said that it “almost broke” her parents’ marriage. She shared that Zarine was carrying Zayed at that point and after giving birth, she left the baby behind with Sanjay and the family, and took off for 3-4 months, and came back a changed woman.

“My mother was a very strong lady because she gave birth to Zayed at that point and she took off for 3-4 months. She left Zayed behind with my father and with all of us and she came back looking like a million dollars. My father was like, ‘Wow! What happened!’ I think that was the shift when he realised that my mother was someone who was independent and could just take off and do what she wanted, and she didn’t depend on him, and I think that’s what brought him back,” she recalled.

Zarine Khan (left) stuck by Sanjay Khan amid rumours of his affair with Zeenat Aman. (Photo: Express Archives)

Sanjay claimed he ‘never slapped’ Zeenat; she spoke about dealing with physical abuse

In an earlier interview with Hrishikesh Kannan, Sanjay asserted that he “never slapped her” and claimed that it was a “PR attack against me which came like a blitzkrieg.”

In a chat with Simi Garewal on her show Rendezvous with Simi Garewal in 1999, Zeenat spoke about dealing with physical abuse “publicly.” “For many years, in my mind, it’s been obliterated because I think that’s what the human mind does. When there is something distinctly unpleasant, you just close your mind to it and pretend that it never happened and you promise yourself that it will never happen again. And that’s how you cope,” she said.

In 2023, Zeenat got eye surgery for a condition called ptosis, which leads to the drooping of the upper eyelid. Zeenat said the condition was a result of an injury she suffered around her right eye 40 years ago. The injury worsened over four decades and was now obstructing her vision.

Photographer Jayesh Sheth, who took some of Zeenat’s pictures shortly after the alleged incident, spoke about the same on The Pooja Bhatt Show. He said that some time after the “incident at Taj” where her eye was “damaged”, they organised a photo shoot. “When she recovered, we organised a shoot with that little swelling and her damaged eye. I can’t forget that shoot because she was like a tigress. Her hair was open, she was lit from the back and she was giving pose after pose in vengeance. Killer shots,” he shared.