Zeenat Aman reveals Raj Kapoor was 'gobsmacked' to see her dressed as Rupa from Satyam Shivam Sundaram

Zeenat Aman, (on the right) in the film Satyam Shivam Sundaram with Shashi Kapoor

Actresses Neetu Kapoor and Zeenat Aman, who have starred in many films together in the 70s, featured as guests on the latest episode of Koffee With Karan season 8. Zeenat Aman narrated how she landed her role of Rupa in the film Satyam Shivam Sundaram directed by the legendary Raj Kapoor, since she had a very 'Western' image at the time.

Zeenat started her anecdote, "I was working with him as my co-star in a film called Vakil Babu where he was playing the title role. And he was deep into the script of Satyam Shivam Sundaram. In between shots he would be talking about what he had planned, what he wanted to do, how excited he was. And that really piqued my interest in every which way."

She continued, "He had given Bobby, which was a huge blockbuster at the time. I was already an established star, you know 'western image'. I didn't think that he would ever think of casting me in this role. It's the daughter of a pujari!"

"One day we were shooting in Esel Studio, which is down the road from RK (Studio). After pack-up, I just dressed myself up in my version of what I thought he would think was Rupa. With tissue paper stuck on my face and make-up and braids, and ghaghra-choli. I went to RK Studios - he used to sit in his cottage and he had his Man Friday John.

"I said, 'John, please tell sir, that Rupa has come.' He said, 'Who is Rupa? Call her.' I went, he was really gobsmacked. I'll tell you what he said later to Krishna-ji. He called Krishna-ji and she came in a little bit of time with gold guineas. They gave those to me as my signing amount. What he said, was that, 'This girl is a huge star. She doesn't need to do this. It's her passion for this that makes me want to give her the part.'

The actress also narrated how Raj Kapoor convinced his distributors. "On an old song of Nargis-ji, 'Jaago Mohan Pyaare', he shot a whole reel, with his vision of Rupa. It is so exquisite what he shot. He wanted to show his distributors that yes, Zeenat Aman can be Rupa. All territories were interested," she said.