The eleventh episode of the eighth season of this chat show had beautiful siblings, the daughters of the legendary Sridevi, Jahnvi Kapoor, and Khushi Kapoor. The episode was more about Jahnvi and Khushi dating lives than their professional goals as actors in the Hindi film industry. It was a lukewarm episode that did not generate much buzz. The new episode of the show features the two yesteryear divas of the Hindi film industry, Zeenat Aman and Neetu Kapoor. They graced the coffee couch, and the conversation with them was all about taking a trip down memory lane, and as Karan Johar stated, it would be a ‘Yaadon ki Baarat’.
What Happens In The Episode?
The episode began with Karan introducing the divas. Zeenat Aman in the 1970s was a trailblazer and a style icon. Meanwhile, Neetu Kapoor was a child star who went on to become one of the most sought-after actresses and got married to the actor belonging to the famous Kapoor family at the height of her lucrative career. Karan Johar had to begin the conversation by talking about Rishi Kapoor and his sudden demise in the year 2020. Neetu Kapoor had only good things to say about her late husband and the time she had spent with him in New York. She was quick to admit that Rishi Kapoor was known to be angry and distant from fans and family. A lot of things had changed in the last few years of his life, and she was glad he got closer to his family by the end, a change she was happy to witness.
The conversation moved to Neetu Kapoor and Zeenat Aman being more colleagues than friends who were busy with their flourishing careers but were never bitter rivals. They clearly remember all the names of the films they worked on. Karan Johar, through the episode, was fascinated to know the stories of the film sets of the 1970s. Neetu Kapoor and Zeenat Aman were mostly tight-lipped about many things. Neetu Kapoor was busy talking about having to work non-stop from the age of 5 until she turned 21 and got married. Zeenat Aman spoke in detail about her life being shuttled between sets and home, and she did not remember partying at this stage of her professional career. Neetu quite honestly admitted having a strict mother and boyfriend, Rishi Kapoor, who were particular about her whereabouts. There was also talk about the Kapoor family and the fact that Shashi Kapoor was branded a taxi because he traveled between many sets at a time.
The women on the episode spoke about having to work two to three shifts just to make it through the day. The actors came onto this episode only to break all the assumptions people had about them and how they would spend their time when not working on any film. Neetu admittedly never attended any party, and Zeenat Aman confessed the same, as their work took the energy out of them.
Karan Johar had to address the elephant in the room, which is Zeenat Aman’s resurgence, through Instagram, and her captions for a change do not seem to be PR-generated. Her heartfelt words broke the clutter of celebrity Instagram pages, which were carefully selected and worded. Zeenat Aman shares the stories of her time as a superstar and style icon in the 1970s. Karan Johar also said her candor would remind people of Rishi Kapoor’s tweets.
Karan Johar also spoke about Neetu Kapoor back in celluloid, and her interactions with the paparazzi were the new talk of the town. Both actors have each done eighty or more films in their short careers and were vocal about being tired after a point. There was a detailed discussion on how Zeenat Aman landed the role of Roopa in Raj Kapoor’s “Satyam Shivam Sundaram.” Zeenat Aman in detail described her look test, which convinced the famous director she was the right choice for the role.
Karan Johar’s fascination with the 1970s and 80s would not die down as he kept asking questions regarding the paparazzi of that era, the entertainment magazines like ‘Stardust’, ‘Cineblitz’, and ‘Star and Style’. The actresses faced the mental agony of reading awful stories being printed in their names. They claimed everything to be lies purely based on speculation. Zeenat Aman especially stressed the effect of the nasty articles written about her personal life. The yesteryear actress also talked about how people need to stop associating self-worth with the success achieved on the big screen. She claimed to not have been affected by the hits and the flops, and Karan admits Ranbir to be of the same thought process as well.
Zeenat Aman and Karan Johar also brought up the issues of mental health, which were not spoken about in her day and age. Zeenat Aman was rather upset talking about Parveen Babi’s fate and the way her case was treated by the industry as well as the media. Neetu Kapoor made a slightly insensitive remark about why people get depressed, and Karan was quick to change the subject as well. The episode ended with Neetu Kapoor talking wholeheartedly about Raha, Ranbir and Alia’s daughter. This was followed by a Bollywood trivia quiz to test both actors’ memory, which Neetu Kapoor won. Neetu Kapoor won the Rapid Fire round as well.
Review: A Dull Affair With The Divas
Zeenat Aman has been the talk of the town in the last year since the day she debuted on Instagram. She was appreciated for her candor and throwback stories from the 1970s that featured many actors she loved and admired. There were also deeply personal anecdotes that caused quite a stir. She changed the social media game involving celebrities, which was not PR-driven and filled with professionally taken pictures. Zeenat Aman, who in the seventies also created quite a bit of noise with her perfect physique, was the modern woman of that era. The new and improved Zeenat Aman was everywhere, which we assume is why Karan Johar invited her over with another yesteryear diva.
The show was expected to be filled with stories from an era when mobile phones and the internet did not exist. Unfortunately, the actresses remained guarded right from the start and only conversed in PG-13 versions of the events that transpired in the film industry. It was rather boring to watch two of the best actresses of that era refuse to divulge any stories that could stir up some conversation.
The host, Karan Johar, tried to make them talk about their working days, but there was hardly anything divulged besides the fact that Rishi Kapoor was a toxic, possessive boyfriend. Neetu Kapoor repeatedly talked about being controlled by her mother and her boyfriend, which is not good news. Laughing it off does not change our opinion of the man who is not alive anymore. It seems the women wanted to talk about the toxic nature of men of that era, but since they had been through it, they probably did not want to relive and talk candidly about it on a show that is meant purely for entertainment.
Zeenat Aman, who initially felt like someone who did not have PR machinery running her life. This episode felt like a class where the actress was imparting philosophical knowledge. Her responses come across as more made-up than heartfelt. Apart from that, it was interesting of her to have cleared up many questions about the life she had led. The two beautiful ladies could have taken the episode by storm if they had not remained silent about their work. The episode after a point became two actresses continuously appreciating each other and moving to talking about Krishna Kapoor being the best hostess there was in the fraternity. The way these parties were described reeks of patriarchy, as the onus was on the woman to host all the friends and colleagues of her husband, the very famous Raj Kapoor. But overall, the episode was a dull affair that did not generate good conversation but mere niceties.
