I don’t want to play ‘bechari maa’ roles: Zeenat Aman
By Radhika Bhirani, IANSTuesday, December 22, 2009
NEW DELHI - Yesteryears glamour girl Zeenat Aman can give the current lot of actresses a run for their money with her style and poise even at 58. She says she is looking forward to doing offbeat and “age appropriate” roles but is clear that she doesn’t want to play a “bechari maa” (helpless mother).
“I would like to work with any good filmmaker who offers me an age appropriate role. Like an older woman who has something to do in a movie except for the ‘woh bechari maa’. I think women have many more dimensions than just that,” Zeenat told IANS in an interview.
The actress, who was in the capital to launch Kanchan Kapoor’s The W Factor Club - a women’s wine appreciation and celebration club - says even though she has been associated with glamour all through her life, she wants to do offbeat films now.
“Of course I want to do different roles. One always likes to do something different. Just because one is glamorous or looks glamorous doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t have brains or that one doesn’t know his or her craft,” she said.
Zeenat, who was last seen in “Ugly Aur Pagli”, says she stayed away from the arc lights for years as she was busy raising her two children - Azaan, 23 and Zahaan, 20.
“My family, my work, my life has kept me busy all this while. I have been primarily busy with my family. My boys lost their father around 11 years ago. They were very little, so my first priority was my family and my children. I had to be both mom and dad to them. Everything else became secondary in my life. But now they are grown up,” she said.
Asked if her children are considering a career in films, she said: “Never say never. I don’t know. They might just get into movies. The older one has actually just finished his bachelors in film direction.”
So does he plan to direct his mother soon?
“They direct me enough at home - mumma this, mumma that,” she laughed. Though she added on a more serious note: “He will be directing films some time though.”
Zeenat says she is now working on a few films, including Sanjay Sharma’s “Dunno Y…Jaane Kyun”, but didn’t want to divulge any details about the movie.
“I’m working on a few films, but when they are absolutely ready, that would be the right time to talk about it,” she said.
Zeenat, who walked the ramp for the first time in the capital, says she gets occasional calls to participate in fashion shows and she chooses them according to her convenience.
“If I have time and I feel like it, I go for fashion weeks. I have walked the ramp in Kolkata and Mumbai. I was invited to Chennai but couldn’t go. This is the first time I have walked the ramp in Delhi,” said Zeenat, who was looking elegant in a black-red kaftan by her favourite designer Sapna Chopra.
A former Miss India, Zeenat didn’t look a wee bit uncomfortable walking the runway.
“It was an interesting experience. When you have done something, it’s not difficult to go back to it. Did I look uncomfortable? I wasn’t at all,” she said.
