ABP Network Ideas Of India 2023: What is Bollywood and entertainment industry without some spicy love affairs and romantic tales between the actors that set the gossip mills churning. As much as the audience are excited to see and enjoy the on-screen chemistry between a film's lead pair, they are equally interested to sneak a peek into their personal lives and know about their real life affairs and marriages. In an interesting conversation with veteran actors Zeenat Aman and Asha Parekh during the second edition of ABP Network Ideas of India, the yesteryear actors discussed on 'Life At The Movies: Revisiting The Magic', moderated by ABP Network's Dibang.


Zeenat Aman was asked about her relationship with 'Hare Ram Hare Krishna' co-star Dev Anand, who was apparently in love with his "Janice" and wanted to go out on a date with her and confess his feelings for her but things changed because of Raj Kapoor acting as the third wheel between them.


Dev remembered in his memoirs, 'Romancing With Life', that he thought Zeenat was his Janice (the character that she played in 'Hare Ram Hare Krishna') when he first met her at a party.


“Zeenat and I started being linked with each other in the magazines and newspapers that people hungry for gossip love to read. Whenever and wherever she was talked about glowingly, I loved it; and whenever and wherever I was discussed in the same vein, she was jubilant. In the subconscious, we had become emotionally attached to each other,” he wrote.


Talking about her equation with her 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram' director Raj Kapoor, Zeenat Aman said, "Raj Kapoor signed me for 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram'. I went to the party as his upcoming heroine. My relationship with him was purely professional and one that is there between an actor and a director."


Refuting rumours about Raj Kapoor expressing his desire to see her in a white saree, Zeenat said, "I have never worn a white saree and he never said 'Why didn’t you wear white?'"


Dev Anand also recalled how he became "jealous" of Raj Kapoor and what made him drop the idea of persuing Zeenat.


Talking about the party post which Dev and Zeenat were supposed to go on a date, he wrote, "The first person who greeted Zeenat from a distance was a drunken Raj Kapoor, with a gallant drawl, ‘There she is!’ He threw his arms around her exuberantly. This suddenly struck me as a little too familiar. And the way she reciprocated his embrace seemed much more than just polite and courteous.”


The 'Don' actress denied what Dev Anand wrote in his autobiography about her breaking his heart at the Rendezvous party.


Zeenat said, "Ek kissa banana me kch jamle beech me daal die jate hain. Dev sahab ka kya perspective tha mujhe nahi pta par main hak se kahti hoon k wo bilkul galat tha. (In order to weave a story, few sentences are added up. I don't know what perspective Dev Anand had of me but I can say with full command that he was wrong). I admire and respect him a lot but this was not correct."


Zeenat Aman concluded her answer by saying that now, she would also write her autobiography in order to clarify the truth.


Ideas Of India Is Back 


ABP Network Ideas Of India Summit is back for its second edition. On February 24 and 25, eminent personalities from all walks of life will share their thoughts on pertinent topics and issues, ranging from climate catastrophe to India’s position as a new global power player.  


This year's speakers will share their thoughts on what constitutes ‘Naya India’, and how our country, now the fifth-largest economy, can position itself as a developed nation by 2047, marking 100 years of independence. 


This year, the ABP Network Ideas Of India summit — co-presented by Dabur Vedic Tea and co-powered by Dr Ortho, Gallant Advance, and Rajesh Masala (driven by Maruti Suzuki and with tech partner Panasonic) — will see notable speakers such as Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Minister Of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar, musical artists Bickram Ghosh and Shubha Mudgal, authors Amitav Ghosh and Devdutt Pattanaik, actresses Sara Ali Khan, Yami Gautam, Asha Parekh and Zeenat Aman, actors Ayushmann Khurrana and Manoj Vajpayee, celebrity chef Vikas Khanna, sports stars Jwala Gupta and Vinesh Phogat, and many more.