A still from Satyam Shivam Sundaram. (courtesy: thezeenataman)
Be it chat shows or her brilliantly written Instagram posts, Zeenat Aman has her way with words. The veteran actor appeared on Karan Johar's chat show Koffee With Karan 8 and she shared how she got cast in the iconic albeit controversial film Satyam Shivam Sundaram, directed by Raj Kapoor and starring Shashi Kapoor, opposite her. Zeenat Aman recalled, "I didn't think that he would even think of casting me in this kind (Rupa) of role. Because she is the daughter of a priest. One day we were shooting at Esel Studios, which is on the road to RK (RK Studios). After packing up, I just dressed myself up, in my version of what I thought he (Raj Kapoor) would think of Rupa."
Zeenat Aman played the role of a woman named Rupa with a disfigured face. So, this is how she prepped, "With tissue paper stuck on my face. And make-up, and choti (braid), and ghagra-choli. Then I went to RK Studios. He had this man on Friday, John, and then I said, John, please tell sir that Rupa has come, So he said, Rupa? Who is Rupa? Then he (Raj Kapoor) called me inside his cottage, and I went. Then he was really gobsmacked," Zeenat Aman recalled.
Zeenat Aman shared what Raj Kapoor said later to his wife Krishna Raj Kapoor. "He said 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. You know what he did, on an old song of Nargis ji, Jago Mohan Pyaare, he shot a whole reel with his vision of Rupa. It was so exquisite what he shot. Better than the entire film." She added that he showed the clip to film distributors. "He wanted to show them, yes, Zeenat Aman can be Rupa. All territories were interested," she added.
Zeenat Aman added that Raj Kapoor and his wife Krishna Raj Kapoor later gave her some gold guineas and told her that this was her signing amount. During the show when Zeenat Aman was also asked, who, from the current generation of actresses, would be ideal to play her iconic character Rupa if a remake of Satyam Shivam Sundaram were to be ever made. Her answer was Deepika Padukone.