‘Zeenat Aman posed like a tigeress for a photoshoot even with a damaged eye after ‘Taj incident’ involving Sanjay Khan, reveals photographer: ‘ | Hindi Movie News

Zeenat Aman continues to be remembered as one of the most glamourous actresses of Hindi cinema. Apart from wooing the audience with her gorgeous looks, Zeenat also broke many stereotypes around actresses at that time, due to her choices in movies as she also strived for meatier roles. However, her personal life has seen some tragic moments. One such moment was when in 1979, her eye was injured, allegedly during an assault involving actor Sanjay Khan. At that time, Sanjay was married to Zarine Khan and reportedly was involved romantically with Zeenat during their film ‘Abdullah’. In a recent interview, photographer Jayesh Sheth revisited that turbulent period, recalling how Zeenat later posed for a striking photoshoot despite her injury, thus radiating the aura of “a woman with vengeance.”Speaking on The Pooja Bhatt Show, Jayesh narrated how he first encountered the two on the sets of Abdullah, during what he described as a “strong affair.” They were shooting the song ‘Maine Poochha Chand Se’ at RK Studios, where Sanjay was at ease in front of the camera but Zeenat “objected.” Jayesh remembered her telling him, “‘Please don’t publish these pictures, these are personal.’” He tried persuading her, saying, “‘Zeenat ji please, these pictures are so fabulous. I request if I can please publish’.” She agreed but only with conditions: “‘Publish 1-2 pictures but I will select which ones’.” The images received warm appreciation, marking the beginning of his friendship with her.Jayesh then recalled the infamous “incident at Taj”, after which Zeenat’s eye was “damaged”. Once she recovered enough to face the camera, they arranged another photoshoot, and this onne he remembers vividly. Describing her intensity, he said she appeared “like a tigress,” with her hair flowing freely as she delivered “pose after pose in vengeance.” The results, he noted, were “killer shots.” Even with some makeup to soften the swelling, the injury was still visible. “And when the pictures came, she just couldn’t believe it because even with the damaged eye which was slightly touched up with make up, it was still showing. And everyone loved the pictures,” he added.Zeenat had referred to this traumatic episode in a conversation with Simi Garewal years ago, though she chose not to identify the person involved. “For many years, in my mind, it’s been obliterated because I think that’s what the human mind does,” she said. “When there is something distinctly unpleasant, you just close your mind to it and pretend that it never happened and you promise yourself that it will never happen again. And that’s how you cope.”Sanjay Khan later addressed the controversy while promoting his memoir The Best Mistakes of My Life. In an interview with Hrishikesh Kannan, he claimed, “I was so pained and horrified with the one-sidedness of the entire story because nobody even asked me what happened. This was a well planned PR attack against me which came like a blitzkrieg.”