Well, those were the daze. This article in Hindustan Times says Zeenat is going to marry again. Hm. You mean Zeenat Aman? At the age of 60?
She rode to stardom in Hare Krishna as the pot smoking young lass. "Dum maro dum" was on every lips as she gyrated to the chords of the guitar, she was the one playing it. For the heroines of those times this was revolutionary indeed, in fact, incendiary. How can a heroine sing "Dum maro dum" and play a guitar. Ugh! She had the establishment up the ante in protest, there were no violent and vociferous sloganeering and banning as happens these days but people did say "tut, tut." In the staid world of Hindi films where women wore saris and hair-dos like crows' nests, a girl wearing trousers, flared at the bottom, was something to heckle at in theatres. My friends didn't like her. Which made me like her even more.
Compared to today those were gentler times. Friends agreed to disagree. But we saw her movies because her films - Yadon Ki Baraat, Ajnabi - would play for months at the local theatre. There was nothing of the mercenary in actors and actresses. These days they dance like there is no tomorrow, swinging hips and boobs, wearing nothing but underpants. Yet, we don't protest. "Style hai bhai."
She again took the guitar and sang "Chura liya hai" in Yadon ki Baraat." Here again people whistled in a derogatory manner. Who is this girl? Is she chalu? Or, is it a style, image, of a new woman, who is emerging? How can they show such things? Imagine, Kareena Kapoor is far ahead in the future. She did Satyam Shivan Sundaram for Kareena's grandfather. She swung her hips in the rain in "Roti Kapda aur Makan" and in "Ajnabi," the latter was done with the sensation of those days, Rajesh Khanna.
This is just a mood piece, so take it in that spirit, won't you dears. Zeenat, we are happy for you. Life begins at sixty. Yes!
John is @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. He blogs here. His Youtube Channel Page. His novel Mr. Bandookwala, M.B.A., Harvard.
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