Zeenat Aman, in her latest Instagram post, recalled the difficult phase in her life when work opportunities dwindled
Zeenat Aman
Zeenat Aman often opens up about her life and struggles on social media, posting heartfelt messages on Instagram, revealing a side of the actress that was yet unknown to the world. In her latest Instagram post, the actress has spoken about how the world has seen her glamorous life, but people are unaware of the troubled times she has been through.
The 72-year-old actress acknowledged that she is aware of how it looks from the outside, but she has also been through tough times when work opportunities lessened and she was worried about making a living.
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"It would be dishonest of me to project a life of uninterrupted glamour and composure. I know how it looks of course. Here is a woman who reached the pinnacle of stardom in her youth, and is now enjoying a renaissance in her old age. Sure, those much retold, often contorted, episodes of personal tragedy are widely known, but they’re merely footnotes now. Little stories that only serve to accentuate the heights one has achieved," she wrote in the Instagram post.
"This then is a frank acknowledgment of the difficult phase. Those excruciating weeks that turned to months that turned to years. The time when the work dried up, the body aged, and one felt their relevance slip away. At first, there was the sheer relief of anonymity. But then came the fear of how to keep food on the table. With no husband to turn to, no sibling to lean on, and two helpless children to provide for, it was terrifyingly lonely."
The actress recalled how she took up the smallest of work offers in order to make ends meet.
"Those were the years I took pretty much any work that came my way. I did not have the luxury of discernment or whimsy. It was bone rattling drives to nondescript towns for event appearances, accommodation at no-star hotels with filthy sheets, trite renditions of ‘chura liya’ in smelly halls, poorly drafted scripts that pushed me to the edge of sanity, being jostled like a prop during stifling photo ops… and then there were the other odd jobs. Teaching poise and etiquette, writing agony aunt columns, even narrating audio tapes.
"This was life as a “has been” and I find no shame in it. I am grateful to those organisers who offered me jobs, to those fans that turned up to attend those events, for those laughable paycheques that kept the lights on in my apartment," she shared.
Aman also explained why she was sharing these thoughts at this point. "This caption is my assertion of two matters. That there is dignity in all labour. And that, with some persistence and luck, the tough times can ease. I am wildly picky about work now. The kids reject half a dozen collaborations and requests on my behalf everyday. It is a privilege I enjoy, but do not take for granted," she ended.
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From Don to Qurbani and Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Aman has starred in many celebrated films in the 70s. Following her marriage to actor Mazhar Khan in 1985, Aman began appearing less frequently in films and took a hiatus in 1989.
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