Zeenat Aman breaks silence on Dev Anand being hurt after dating rumours with Raj Kapoor: I was unaware, felt humiliated

Veteran actor Zeenat Aman finally opened up about her first and only misunderstanding with co-star Dev Anand who launched her career in Bollywood. Zeenat, in her latest Instagram post, talked about how her phone kept ringing after Dev Anand’s autobiography mentioned him falling in love with Zeenat and later being hurt as relationship rumours of Zeenat and Raj Kapoor were out. Zeenat said she was hurt and humiliated by the revelation. Also read: Zeenat Aman recalls when Dev Anand asked if she had any ‘model friends’ for shoot

Zeenat shared a monochrome photo of herself with Dev Anand from their youthful days. She wrote, “When I embarked on my cinematic career, It was the age of the Golden Trio. The genius of Dev saab, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor was widely acknowledged, and any actor worth their salt recognised that these three giants had shaped and were shaping Hindi cinema.”

Zeenat revealed that she was looking for more projects after a successful launch in the industry and went on to star in several films, with and without Dev Anand. “Meanwhile Raj ji’s 1973 release Bobby had been a blockbuster hit that had swept every award. We knew each other socially too, exchanging warm greetings at public events. He was also my costar in Vakil Babu and Gopichand Jasoos. Naturally I wanted to be directed by him under the RK banner, and when the opportunity arose I jumped at it. The story of how I landed SSS is well-known, so I won’t repeat it,” she added about 1978 film Satyam Shivam Sundaram.

“I was giddy to have been cast for Raj ji’s unconventional project, and put heart and soul into it. I was completely unaware that Dev saab was simultaneously misreading the situation. Years later, in 2007, ‘Romancing with Life’, Dev Saab’s autobiography hit the stands. In it he professed that he was in love with me, and insinuated that Raj ji and I had more than a director-actor equation which broke his heart.”

“To be honest, I was livid. I felt humiliated, hurt and disconcerted that Dev saab, my much older mentor, a person I loved and admired platonically, would not only believe such a story devoid of a shred of truth, but would then go on to publish it for the world to read. For weeks my phone rang incessantly as friends inquired about “what really happened” and shared excerpts from the book. I never did read it though, and in my anger I consigned the copy I was sent to storage in the basement!”

Zeenat confessed that she couldn’t talk about the embarrassing episode of her life for years, but now she decided to open up about it. In the end, she called Dev Anand a ‘rare talent’ with warm guidance who has her earnest gratitude. “I do not tolerate disrespect to his name,” she concluded.

After the post went live, several celebrities including Anurag Kashyap, Anil Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor and Gul Panag sent their love to the veteran in the comment section.