ACTOR
Zeenat Aman
26 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (26)
- #001
Between 1976 and 1980, the actress reached the status of the highest-paid female actor in Indian cinema, sharing the position with Hema Malini. Documentation of the period places her as the second highest-paid female actor from 1981 to 1984 and the third highest-paid from 1973 to 1975, maintaining a consistent financial ranking alongside Malini throughout these periods.
- #002
Raza Murad and Zeenat Aman share a maternal family connection. Murad is Aman's maternal cousin; their mothers, Shireen Murad and Vardhini Scindia, are sisters.
- #003
Aman competed in the Femina Miss India pageant in 1970, where she placed second. The placement earned her the title of Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 1970 and the right to represent India internationally. In 1970 she won the Miss Asia Pacific International title, becoming the first South Asian woman to achieve that victory.
- #004
She made her film debut alongside Dev Anand in the Indian-Filipino production The Evil Within (1970). Her breakthrough performance came as Janice in Haré Rama Haré Krishna (1971), a role that won her the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for Best Actress.
- #005
Zeenat Aman's mother, Scinda Heinz, also known as Vardhini Siddiqui, managed the early part of her daughter's career after Aman's education in Germany. Scinda married German national Ulrich Heinz, which led the family to relocate and Aman to later enroll at a school in Düsseldorf. This international education took place before her return to India for the 1970 Miss Asia Pacific pageant.
- #006
She had a relationship with Sanjay Khan before being attacked by his wife, Zarine Khan.
- #007
During the making of Namumkin, she was engaged to actor Frank Marino. They met while shooting the film in Toronto. Frank is the father of actor Nicholas Marino.
- #008
The actress was once engaged to producer Robin Kumar.
- #009
Zeenat is no stranger to the small screen. Several years ago she hosted a television program, Awaaz, on which she offered advice on a range of subjects, from women in distress and dealing with delinquent children and drunken husbands to being a career woman and fighting for one's rights.
- #010
Zeenat Aman became engaged to Frank Marino during the making of Namumkin (1988). Marino served as a lighting technician on the film crew during its North American shooting schedule. The engagement took place while the production shot at locations in Canada and the United States, including Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Niagara Falls, Ontario.
- #011
In 1974 she was engaged to Gautam Berry (the father of Sikandar Kher).
- #012
She was briefly involved with Shatrughan Sinha.
- #013
Zeenat Aman carried on a personal relationship with lead actor Kanwaljeet Singh during the 1981-1982 production cycle of the action-crime film Ashanti (1982).
- #014
In the late 1990s she was with the much younger Zaheer Aslam. She and her husband Mazhar met Zaheer in the United Kingdom.
- #015
Zeenat Aman met American actor and director Warren Beatty during a visit to Los Angeles, California, in 1976. Beatty offered her the lead role of Julia Farnsworth in Heaven Can Wait (1978). She turned down the offer because the shooting schedule required twelve months of continuous residence in the United States. The decision prevented her transition to Western cinema while she was at the peak of her career in the Indian film industry. Julie Christie ultimately accepted the role in the 1978 Paramount Pictures release.
- #016
Actor Mazhar Khan was previously married to Rubaina Mumtaz, the daughter of Taj Khan and niece of actor Dilip Kumar. A son named Ezher Han was born from the marriage. After their separation, the production manager married Zeenat Aman in 1985 and had two sons, Azaan and Zahaan. Rubaina Mumtaz works as a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Life Coach in Redondo Beach and Tarzana, California, under the professional name Rubaina Mumtaz.
- #017
Zeenat Aman's son Zahaan Khan plays the character of Gangu's son as a child actor. The production, directed and produced by his father Mazhar Khan, went through a long development period of about nine years before its release in 2000.
- #018
Zeenat Aman is the aunt of film director Faruk Kabir and actor-singer Sanober Kabir. Faruk and Sanober Kabir are the children of N. S. Kabir and Sabiha Kabir; Sabiha Kabir is a former Bollywood fashion designer.
- #019
Zeenat Aman has two sons with actor Mazhar Khan, one of whom is film producer Azaan Khan. Azaan Khan directed the action thriller Bankster, which starred Naseeruddin Shah and Faissal Khan. In his early years in the film industry, he appeared as a child actor in the productions Ek Numbar Ka Chor (1990) and Dil (1990).
- #020
Zeenat Aman recorded and released the educational children's album Fun 2 Learn in 1988. CBS Records released the project, which featured musical compositions and vocal collaborations with artist Bashir Sheikh. The track list used rhythmic mnemonic devices to teach the basics of English and Hindi, including the alphabet, numbers and colours. The production marked a rare career shift towards vocal performance and educational media in the late 1980s.
- #021
Director Vinod Pande cast Zeenat Aman and Marc Zuber in the lead roles of the independent production Ek Aur Aasman (1982). The project reached the shooting stage without entering production, which led to the film being shelved indefinitely.
- #022
Production of the feature film Kohra: The Mist (1982) was halted during shooting, which led to the project being shelved. Directed by Keshu Ramsay and produced by Umesh, the film had a screenplay by Jyoti Swaroop and music by Bappi Lahiri. It was conceived as a starring vehicle for Aman during her commercial peak in the early 1980s.
- #023
In April 2019, the digital trade publication Bollywood Hungama included Aman in its editorial list of the 10 Sexiest Bollywood Actresses of All Time.
- #024
Aman gave birth to her first child, Azaan, in October 1986. During the first year of her marriage and pregnancy, she was reported to have endured severe emotional strain due to her husband's absence and to have publicised his infidelity in contemporary trade publications such as Stardust.
- #025
Zeenat Aman gave birth to her second son, Zahaan Khan, on 15 October 1989.
- #026
Zeenat Aman was offered the lead role alongside Muhammad Ali in the film The Greatest. She turned the role down.
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