Photograph: Kind courtesy Zeenat Aman/Instagram
It’s always a joy to read Zeenat Aman’s posts on Instagram, especially when she goes down memory lane and reveals interesting nuggets of movie trivia.
Her latest post is one such, when she shares an anecdote about her relationship with Feroz Khan with whom she worked in 1980’s Qurbani.
‘I read somewhere that Oxford’s word for the year 2023 is “rizz” — short for ‘charisma.
Well, if I’ve ever known anybody to have rizz, it was Feroz Khan.
Feroz and I had a rocky start. It was the 70s, my star was on the rise, and he called me on the telephone to offer me a role in his upcoming production.
It was a secondary part, and so I politely refused the offer. Feroz was incensed and let out a stream of expletives while I held the receiver away from my ear!
Many months later, he called again. This time he started his pitch by saying — “It’s the lead role so don’t reject it”. And that’s how I joined the cast of Qurbani.
I often discuss set etiquette in my captions, so I’d be amiss to neglect Feroz’s influence on me in this regard. I was quite a diligent worker, but on one occasion my youth got the better of me.
Though we had an early call time the next day, I agreed to go out to a party. It was a fantastic night of dance and drink, and unsurprisingly I landed up one hour late to set.
Feroz was glowering behind his camera, and before I could offer him my meagre excuse, he cut me down to size. “Begum, you’re late and you’re going to pay for the delay.”
No argument, no scolding, but you can be sure that he docked my pay to pay the crew for that one hour delay!
Feroz was suave, charming and polished. He was a talented actor-director, and Qurbani remains one of my favourite projects to date.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this anecdote and I hope 2024 is off to a roaring start for you!’
