Meet Muslim actress, who was called 'sweeper' by Raj Kapoor, she quit non-veg food to play Radha, her son is...

Zarina Wahab is known for her sincere and impactful performances in Chitchor, Gharaonda, Agneepath, Adaminte Makan Abu, and Madanolsavam among others. She was born into a Muslim family in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh in 1959, and studied acting at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

The veteran actress revealed that Raj Kapoor once called her 'sweeper', as the legendary actor-director would use the same name for Zeenat Aman. Talking to Amar Ujala in 2022, Zarina said, "When I was studying at Pune Film Institute, Raj Kapoor used to come there often to meet Shailendra Singh. Shailendra was trying to become an actor and during this time he had also sung the songs filmed on Rishi Kapoor in Raj Kapoor's film Bobby. Yes, one day Raj Kapoor did say to me that you look like a sweeper, I asked him why are you saying so? So he said that I call Zeenat Aman also by the same name. I see Zeenat Aman's image in you. This was a big compliment from Raj Kapoor for me and people twisted it and presented it as something else."

In a recent interview, Zarina also shared that Tarachand Barjatya asked her to quit non-vegetarian food when she was playing Radha in the 1979 film Gopal Krishna. Talking to Lehren Retro, the actress recalled her journey of being part of the fantasy movie. Wahab stated, "One night, I received a call. The person asked me to come to a particular film set the next day if I was free. I went. As soon as I reached there, I was given a certain outfit and was asked to check if it fit. They were replacing a heroine in the film after having shot 11 reels of film. I don’t want to disclose who she was. My hairdresser at that time informed me about her."

"After pack-up, Tarachand Barjatya, who we fondly addressed as Sethji, called me to his office. He told me, ‘Look, you are playing Radha in this film, Gopal Krishna, so please quit eating meat until we finish shooting the film.’ I agreed to it. I didn’t ever eat meat until the film released", she further added.

 

 

 

 

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Zarina Wahab married actor Aditya Pancholi in 1986, and they have two children - Sana Pancholi and Sooraj Pancholi. She was last seen playing Jr NTR's mother in the pan-India action drama Devara Part 1. Released in September 2024, the film was commercially successful as it collected Rs 380 crore gross worldwide.

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