Viveck Vaswani thanks Zeenat Aman for backing him on his first film Gawaahi: ‘I would not have been here’

Viveck Vaswani shared his thanks with actor Zeenat Aman for coming on board his first film Gawaahi back in the late 1980s. The actor-producer stated that if she hadn’t said yes to the film, his career would not have taken off and he ‘would not have been here’. They co-starred in the film helmed by Anant Balani in his directorial debut. (Also read: Viveck Vaswani shares a photo of Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan’s ‘honeymoon in Darjeeling’. See pic)

He wrote on Twitter, “If this lady hadn’t given me an instant yes to my first film, knowing that I was new, the director was new, there was no budget, we were shooting on 16mm, I would not have been here! Always grateful to #ZeenatAman, am glad that through the last 40 years I’ve justified her faith!” The actor also posted a screenshot of the film which shows the duo in their younger avatars.

Fans praised the veteran actor and the film on his post. One fan stated, “Zeenat ji is lovely and my all time favourite.” Another added, “There is always one guardian angel who steps in and for you it was her #zeenataman. Salute to her spirit and your grit to make things happen.” Yet another asked, “Are you talking about Gawaahi? A very different film away from mainstream cinema and parallel cinema. Different story, different cinematography. Court room scene and the song.”

Gawaahi also starred Tanuja, Shekhar Kapur, Ranjeeta Kaur, Ashutosh Gowariker, Vikram Gokhale along with Zeenat and Viveck. The video film, which was finished in 12 days, was based on the 1934 play The Night of January 16th, a courtroom drama by Ayn Rand. Zeenat played a character named Jhanvi Kaul who was on trial for the murder of her lover and employer, Ranjeet Choudhary, played by Shekhar.

Zeenat made her social media debut on Instagram in February 2023. Since then, she has been sharing throwback photographs from her life and career and revealing stories from her past with personalities like Parveen Babi and Dev Anand. The veteran actor, who was last seen in Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Panipat (2019) in a cameo, is set to return to acting with a role in the upcoming film Margaon: The Closed Case and the web series Showsttopper.

Viveck was last seen in the short film Cuddles in 2021. He is the dean at the School of Contemporary Media at Pearl Academy.