Zeenat Aman Recalls How Rishi Kapoor Was Once Made To Look Taller Than Her Using Cushions

News18

12-05-2025

Last Updated:
Zeenat Aman shared a nostalgic Instagram post about her 1977 film shoot with late Rishi Kapoor, highlighting the industry's past bias against taller actresses.
Zeenat Aman's Instagram feed is a rich storehouse of stories from her reigning days in Bollywood. The actor is lauded by her fans for her phenomenal storytelling, honesty and how she conducts herself. On May 12, The Royals star reflected on one of her shoot diaries with late Rishi Kapoor. She also called out how the industry once used to find it 'unappealing for an actress to be taller" than her male co-star.
Zeenat Aman dropped two glimpses from Hai Agar Dusham Dushman Zamana Gum Naheen from 1977 film, Hum Kisise Kum Naheen. Addressing her Gen Z followers, the veteran actor asked them to check with their parents, who'd recognise the song immediately. She then went on to share a story from the shoot.
It began: 'Here's the truth, of all the men I worked with from the Kapoor khandan, Rishi and I interacted the least both socially and professionally. In fact, in all the years that our careers overlapped, we only featured together in this one song. That too because Director Nasir Hussain had me pinned as a bit of a lucky talisman that year. Why? Because Yaadon ki Baaraat, his previous film in which I had starred, had been a blockbuster hit."
She admitted than she was 'quite pleased" by the film's success and couldn't refuse the filmmaker's request of making a special appearance in his film. Her role was limited to 'just one Qawalli number (the only one of my career) and a romantic scene with Chintu ji."
While talking about her experience of working with late Rishi Kapoor, she also underlined once-prevalent gender bias in the film industry about height of actresses. 'Those of you who follow this page know that my costars often found my height prohibitive. Within the rigid gender constructs of Hindi cinema (or perhaps world cinema), it was considered unappealing for an actress to be taller than her on-screen love interest. So there we were, Chintu ji and I flirting for the camera on a russet leather couch, but for some reason our seated positions made our height difference more strikingly apparent. Much to Chintu ji's chagrin, Nasir Saab propped him up on first one and then two cushions to make him appear taller than me," she wrote.
She concluded her note with a playful question directed at fans: 'The banter is quite fun I think. After all, which one of you ladies reading this has never accused your paramour of something along the lines of – 'Jahaan chikni surat dekhte ho, phisal jaate ho!" Am I right?" Take a look:
Meanwhile, Zeenat Aman is recuperating after being recently admitted to the hospital due to health concerns. She made her acting comeback with Netflix's The Royals, co-starring Ishaan Khatter, Bhumi Pednekar and Nora Fatehi.
First Published:
May 12, 2025, 18:22 IST