‘I wanted to escape my personal life’: Zeenat Aman recalls Gawaahi comeback amid marital crisis

Sharing an interview clip from the sets of her film Gawaahi, Zeenat recalled shooting for the project in 1988 after becoming a mother, at a time when her marriage was beginning to fall apart.

“At this point in my life, the rosy picture of domestic bliss that I had conjured up while at the peak of my career was beginning to fade. Marriage and motherhood had both arrived, but the former was starting to show cracks,” she wrote.

‘I Wanted To Remember My Identity’

Zeenat Aman revealed that she had moved back to her mother’s home in south Bombay with her young son Azaan when the script for Gawaahi unexpectedly came her way.

“I was back living with my own mother (with little Azaan in tow) in her flat in south Bombay when an unexpected script arrived at my doorstep,” she shared.

Recalling that period, the actor said returning to work helped her reconnect with herself beyond her responsibilities as a daughter, wife, and mother.

“Having once wanted to escape my professional life, I now wanted to escape my personal life and remember my identity as something outside of daughter, mother and wife!” Zeenat Aman wrote.

Mother’s Support Helped Her Resume Acting

The actor also credited her mother for helping her resume work during that emotionally challenging phase.

She said her mother stepped in to take care of her son Azaan, allowing her to play the role of murder-accused Janhvi Kaul in the film.

Ending her post on a humorous and self-aware note, Zeenat Aman embraced her reputation for making several “comebacks” throughout her career, calling herself a “comeback queen.”

Revisiting Gawaahi

Zeenat fondly remembered Gawaahi as a bold and unconventional courtroom drama directed by Anant Balani and produced by Vivek Vaswani.

The film also featured Shekhar Kapur, Ashutosh Gowariker, and Ranjeeta Kaur.

Rewatching the film years later reminded her of its distinctive storytelling style and slow-burn mystery narrative.

About The Film

Gawaahi is a Hindi-language courtroom drama thriller released in 1989 and loosely inspired by The Night of January 16th by Ayn Rand.

The story revolves around the mysterious death of a wealthy businessman. Zeenat Aman plays Janhvi Kaul, the businessman’s secretary and alleged lover, who becomes the prime suspect in the murder case.

Unlike mainstream Bollywood films of that era, Gawaahi focused more on psychological tension and courtroom proceedings than commercial song-and-dance elements, making it an unconventional thriller for its time.