Long-standing rumours surrounding the relationship between Zeenat Aman and actor Sanjay Khan in the 1970s have resurfaced after new comments by his daughter, Farah Khan Ali, who has stated that the two were indeed married before later divorcing.
Farah made the remarks during a conversation with Vickey Lalwani on his YouTube channel, where she was asked about reports of her father marrying Zeenat Aman. Responding to the question, she said, “Yes, he had at that point (married her).” When pressed further on how the marriage ended, she added, “There was a Muslim way of getting married, and he divorced her the Muslim way as well.”
Sanjay Khan was already married to Zarine Khan at the time and had three daughters, with a fourth child on the way, according to Farah.
Zeenat Aman later went on to marry actor Mazhar Khan in 1985, a marriage that lasted until his death in 1998.
Farah also addressed long-circulated allegations linked to an incident in 1979 at a five-star hotel, where it was reported that Zeenat Aman suffered an eye injury during a public gathering. The episode has remained controversial for decades, with Zeenat herself, without naming individuals, previously referring to experiencing “physical abuse publicly,” while Sanjay Khan has consistently denied the allegations.
In her interview, Farah strongly rejected the claims, calling them “hogwash” and defending her father’s character. “My father has never raised his hand on my mother or any of his daughters, and he is not a violent man to raise a finger on a woman,” she said.
She also referred to her mother’s version of events, stating, “My mother told me that Zeenat’s mother suffered from an eye disease… Her eye was also a little smaller, and it was something genetic that happened to her. Not something that the press wrote about. My mother told me that my father never raised his hand on Zeenat Aman. So all this nonsense about a party where my father beat her is bullsh*t,” she said.
Farah further reflected on her mother’s perspective regarding the relationship, noting that Zarine Khan did not solely hold Zeenat responsible for the affair. “She said your father was attracted to her, so I don’t just blame her, I blame your father as well. There was an attraction on both sides; maybe there was something wrong with their marriage at that point that it happened, or maybe it just happened,” she said.
She went on to describe how the relationship between Sanjay Khan and Zeenat Aman reportedly affected her parents’ marriage. Farah said it “almost broke” their relationship and recalled that her mother was pregnant with her brother Zayed Khan at the time. She added that Zarine Khan left home for several months after giving birth before returning later.
“My mother was a very strong lady because she gave birth to Zayed at that point and she took off for 3-4 months. She left Zayed behind with my father and with all of us and she came back looking like a million dollars. My father was like, ‘Wow! What happened!’ I think that was the shift when he realised that my mother was someone who was independent and could just take off and do what she wanted, and she didn’t depend on him, and I think that’s what brought him back,” she recalled.
Sanjay Khan has previously denied allegations of physical assault. In an earlier conversation with Hrishikesh Kannan, he said he “never slapped her” and described the controversy as a “PR attack against me which came like a blitzkrieg.”
Zeenat Aman, speaking earlier on Simi Garewal’s show Rendezvous with Simi Garewal in 1999, referred to coping with traumatic experiences in general terms. “For many years, in my mind, it’s been obliterated because I think that’s what the human mind does. When there is something distinctly unpleasant, 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,” she said.
In 2023, Zeenat Aman underwent eye surgery for a condition identified as ptosis, which causes drooping of the upper eyelid. She stated that the condition stemmed from an injury near her right eye sustained around 40 years earlier, which gradually worsened over time and began affecting her vision.
Photographer Jayesh Sheth also revisited the episode during an appearance on The Pooja Bhatt Show, recalling a photo session conducted after Zeenat’s recovery from the alleged incident. He said, “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,” he shared.
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