Zeenat Aman’s fiery photoshoot after 1979 Taj Incident resurfaces as photographer recalls her posing like a tigress despite a damaged eye

Zeenat Amaan's old photoshoot resurfaces

Celebrated photographer Jayesh Sheth has recalled Zeenat Aman’s resilience following the infamous 1979 Taj incident, in which the actor suffered an eye injury after an alleged assault by Sanjay Khan.

At the time, Zeenat was one of Hindi cinema’s most glamorous stars, while Sanjay, married to Zarine Khan, was rumoured to be in a relationship with his Abdullah co-star.

Speaking on The Pooja Bhatt Show, Jayesh recounted his early professional interactions with the duo during the shoot of the song Maine Poochha Chand Se at RK Studios. He revealed that Sanjay posed comfortably for the camera, while Zeenat was hesitant. “She said, ‘Please don’t publish these pictures, these are personal.’ I said, ‘Zeenat ji please, these pictures are so fabulous. I request if I can please publish’. She said, ‘Publish 1-2 pictures but I will select which ones,’” he recalled. The photos were well received, marking the beginning of a friendship between the two.

But what stayed etched in his memory, Jayesh said, was a photoshoot that took place after the “incident at Taj,” during which Zeenat’s eye was “damaged.” He narrated, “When she recovered, we organised a shoot with that little swelling and her damaged eye. I can’t forget that shoot because she was like a tigress. Her hair was open, she was lit from the back and she was giving pose after pose in vengeance. Killer shots.”

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Despite makeup, the swelling was visible. Jayesh added, “And when the pictures came, she just couldn’t believe it because even with the damaged eye which was slightly touched up with make up, it was still showing. And everyone loved the pictures.”

Zeenat herself briefly addressed the incident years ago on Simi Garewal’s show without naming anyone. She said, “For many years, in my mind, it’s been obliterated because I think that’s what the human mind does… you just close your mind to it and pretend that it never happened and you promise yourself that it will never happen again. And that’s how you cope.”

Sanjay Khan, however, has long denied the allegations. While promoting his memoir The Best Mistakes of My Life, he told Hrishikesh Kannan that the controversy was a smear campaign. “This was a well planned PR attack against me which came like a blitzkrieg.” He further defended himself, saying, “I never slapped her, and this was blasphemy.” He also claimed that Zeenat was “perfectly fine” when he met her the next day.