Zeenat Aman says that audience accepted her even when she played grey characters

Veteran actress Zeenat Aman believes that characters with grey shades helped define her career in Indian cinema and ultimately inspired writers to create compelling roles just for her. The Bollywood star, who dominated the 1970s and 1980s with blockbusters like Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978), Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971), Don (1978), Manoranjan (1974), and Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973), stated on Wednesday that people embraced her in unorthodox roles.

At an interactive session organised by FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), the actress was quoted saying, "I was accepted by the audiences at that time in characters which had grey shades, whether it was a drug addict, or someone who died of an overdose... There was an audience acceptance. Subsequently, writers wrote parts for me where it was a good bad girl, good girl and other kinds of roles that did well."

The event, titled, Stories that Matter with Zeenat Aman, also included Jayanti Dalmia, president of FICCI Flo, and Vinita Bimbhet.

Zeenat, who was regarded as one of the finest actors of her time along with the late Parveen Babi, remembered how her career began with a supporting role in the 1971 film Hulchul. She added, "My journey in Indian cinema started when I was a teenager and I stopped working when I became a mother. Along the way, there were many milestones.”

Zeenat Aman was last seen on screens in Ashutosh Gowarikar's 2019 period drama Panipat. She has completed two web series and will shortly make her OTT debut.