Zeenat Aman denies Dev Anand’s claim; Clarifies she never had a ‘relationship’ with Raj Kapoor

In Dev Anand’s autobiography ‘Romancing With Life’ which was published in 2007, the actor wrote about being in love with Zeenat Aman after they co-starred in the 1971 film Hare Rama Hare Krishna. He wanted to express his feelings for her but wrote that he realised Raj Kapoor had grown close to her. On Friday, veteran actress Zeenat Aman refuted the claim and said that Dev Anand was wrong in assuming that she had an inter-personal relationship with Raj Kapoor. She said that the late Dev Anand might have tweaked a few things in his autobiography about her and Raj Kapoor and that they always had a director-actor relationship.

Zeenat Aman says she never had an ‘inter-personal’ relationship with Raj Kapoor

At the ABP Ideas Of India 2023 summit, Zeenat Aman said that Raj Kapoor had signed her for Satyam Shivam Sundaram, and that she went to the party as his about-to-be-heroine. “Raj had signed me for Satyam Shivam Sundaram and I went there as his about-to-be heroine. I never had an inter-personal relationship (with him), not before that and never after that. It was always a director-actor relation (between us). He was passionate about his work and I was passionate about his work but never did he ask me why I did not wear white. In fact, if you look at it, I have never worn white on his sets or parties. Never has he said 'why didn't you wear white'? With all due respect, ek kahani banane me, hindsight se kuch interesting banane ke liye kuch jumle daal dete hain (sometimes, some phrases are added to make a narrative or a story interesting),” she said.

She said that while she is not sure about Dev Anand’s perspective, she can rightfully say that the claim he made was wrong and that she will write about this in her autobiography. She added that she respects and admires Dev Anand, but this wasn’t correct.

What Dev Anand wrote about Zeenat Aman and Raj Kapoor in his autobiography

In his book, Dev Anand had written that he had fixed a meeting with Zeenat, but decided to quickly make an appearance at a party first. He wrote that the first person who greeted Zeenat from a distance at the party was a ‘drunken Raj Kapoor’, who ‘threw his arms around her exuberantly’. “This suddenly struck me as a little too familiar. And the way she reciprocated his embrace seemed much more than just polite and courteous,” he had written.

 

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