When Zeenat Aman said she took a break to ”give quality life’ to her kids | Bollywood

Zeenat Aman, who ruled the Hindi film industry in the 70s and 80s, took a long break from acting after marrying Mazhar Khan in 1985. As the veteran actor celebrates her birthday on Sunday, we revisit her 2013 interview when she told Hindustan Times about why she took the break and said that her priority was to give a quality life to her kids at the time. (Also read: Zeenat was taken aback on her 1st day on set, asked director ‘where’s glamour’)

When Zeenat talked about her break

In a 2013 interview with Hindustan Times, Zeenat was asked why she did not continue to act, like her contemporaries Shabana Azmi and Hema Malini. “After my husband passed away, I was in a different state of mind. There were too many unhappy things happening. I needed to plan my life with my children. Their well-being was my main concern. I wanted to give them a quality life and didn’t want to miss out on their growing up years.”

Zeenat added, “By the time things started falling in place and I gave a thought to acting again, I had gone too far from the movie world. I didn’t want to come back. This time around, I stepped back from my career out of choice. I guess my priorities had changed by then.”

In the interview, Zeenat also talked about the things that kept her busy during the time she was on a break from public life. She revealed that she took to teaching, did theatre in those years. “When you are happy with what you are doing, you don’t miss anything. There’s so much more to my life today. Acting is just part of it.”

Zeenat’s career

After making her acting debut with The Evil Within in 1970, Zeenat soon featured in Hulchul the next year. She also got her breakthrough film Hare Rama Hare Krishna the same year. Soon, she was among the top heroines of the industry and headlined films such as Satyam Shivam Sundaram, and Qurbani. She was also part of many hit films including Yaadon ki Baraat, and Dostana, among several others.

After a long break of over a decade, she returned to films in the 2000s. She was part of movies such as Ugli Aur Pagli and Dunno Y… Na Jaane Kyon. In 2017, she also made her digital debut with Love Life & Screw Ups.

Zeenat’s upcoming projects

Earlier this year, Zeenat announced she will soon feature in Bun Tikki. Produced by Manish Malhotra, the film also features Shabana Azmi and Abhay Deol. Apart from Bun Tikki, she also has Margaon: The Closed File in the pipeline.

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