Mumbai (Commonwealth Union)_ Bollywood veteran actor and 1970s sensation Zeenat Aman has just made her Instagram debut and is winning hearts on the internet with her interesting posts. Her photographs along with exciting narratives from her early days in the Bollywood film industry are entertaining to read, as well as quite informative. Recently, the renowned actress recalled one of her popular songs and shared the old video on her Instagram account.
The video shared by the actress showed Zeenat Aman’s rehearsals for the song Laila O Laila from the 1980 film Qurbani and also her exclusive interview with Keith Adam of the Australian Broadcasting Commission. The video features Zeenat Aman sharing her views on the film industry, which she believes is transforming and becoming more accepting of women in roles that are not only ornamental. The actress also discussed the gender pay disparity of her time, despite being the highest-paid female performer of her time.
The senior actress said, “90 percent of the time, the majority of the women here are just playing ornamental roles, purely ornamental. They sing and dance and sort of prance around the leading man. That’s about it. What I feel is happening now is that changes are coming about.” She added, “Women are demanding good roles and refusing to work in films, let’s say have participation. They want to do something, they demand something, and they are getting something to do. I find this exciting. I believe women in India should have something to identify with, other than just ornamentation.”
Even though the actor acknowledges that the film business has changed to a great extent for the better over the last 50 years, she is still dissatisfied with the salary equality between male and female performers. Sharing the post, the actress penned an informative caption, which placed the responsibility of bringing about change on the shoulders of today’s male actors, producers, and directors.
The caption reads the following: “In the late 70s, Keith Adam from the Australian Broadcasting Commission visited the set of Qurbani, where I was rehearsing for ‘Laila o Laila’, and snagged himself an interview. It’s been nearly 50 years since this footage was shot, and the industry has changed drastically since. The roles available to women are not just ornamental anymore. What has not changed though is the gender pay gap. During my time, I was lauded as the “highest paid female actor”, but the disparity in the pay cheque between my male co-stars and myself was so vast that it was hilarious. The Zeenat you see in this video was quite certain that half a century would be enough time to even the scales. So it disappoints me that even today, women in the film industry don’t have wage parity. Women have consistently put in the work, and I think that the onus is now on our men – actors, directors, producers – to ensure that their female co-workers (not just stars) are paid fairly. It seems such a simple and obvious thing, and yet it would be revolutionary if any man did this”.
The 71-year-old actress joined the social media platform in February. On her unverified page, she first shared one of her pictures and captioned it as, “Laughing at the places life takes me. Why hello there, Instagram.” The actor’s Instagram bio reads as follows: “Actor. Mother. Maverick.” She also shared a lovely photo of herself to delight her Instagram followers and disclosed details about the photoshoot. In her second blog, the actor, a former winner of a beauty contest, described what it was like to be the lone woman on set in early male-dominated Bollywood. The actress’s most popular films were Yaadon Ki Baraat, Don, and Qurbani.
