Sanjay Khan had no right to raise his hand on Zeenat,' says Raza Murad: 'Her eye was affected'

Zeenat Aman may be called an icon and someone who broke stereotypes in the 70s and 80s, but off-screen, she's not seen a life that was always glamourous. She's seen many personal struggles in life, specially when it came to love.

Veteran actor Raza Murad has spoken about the personal struggles of his cousin Zeenat Aman, recalling her childhood after her parents separated, her reported experience of loneliness, and the circumstances surrounding her marriage to actor Mazhar Khan. He also addressed the widely reported allegations of an alleged assault involving Sanjay Khan, which Zeenat has linked to a lasting injury to her right eye in the past.Raza reflected on Zeenat’s family background and the challenges she faced in her personal life, including her relationships and marriage.Explaining their family connection, Raza said Zeenat’s father and his mother were siblings, making them first cousins. He also revealed that Zeenat was affectionately known as Babbushah. Recalling her early years, Raza said Zeenat’s parents separated when she was young, leaving her to move between their homes. He suggested that the circumstances had a profound effect on her childhood, particularly as she was their only child.

“Unfortunately, her parents separated. The effects of growing up in a broken home inevitably fall on children. She would stay with her father, and then her mother would take her away. She loved her father a lot, and he loved her dearly too,” he said in an interview with Vickey Lalwani.Raza further recalled that Zeenat attended a convent school in Panchgani, where she experienced loneliness. With both her parents eventually marrying other people, he said, she did not have the stable family environment that a child might need.“She was a single child, and her parents had separated, so a sense of loneliness naturally crept in. She did not get to experience a settled family environment. Her mother lived separately, and her father lived separately,” he added.Raza Murad recalls the alleged incident involving Zeenat Aman and Sanjay KhanRaza also addressed the long-reported controversy surrounding Zeenat’s relationship with Sanjay Khan and an alleged violent confrontation that reportedly left the actress with lasting damage to her right eye.According to Raza, Zeenat had travelled from Lonavala to Mumbai before the confrontation took place at a hotel. He described the incident as violent and said it had affected her eye.“She had rushed from Lonavala to Mumbai, and a confrontation took place there. It was a violent incident, because of which her eye was affected,” Raza said.He also reflected on relationships involving people who are already married, emphasising that those entering such relationships should consider the possible consequences. Sanjay was married to

Zarine Khan

at the time.“When you marry someone who is already married and has children, you have to think about it. You also need to prepare yourself mentally for the repercussions,” he said.However, Raza made it clear that he did not consider violence against women acceptable under any circumstances.“Whatever happened was wrong. You have no right to raise your hand against a woman,” he said.Zeenat and Sanjay reportedly married in 1978, while he was still married to Zarine.

Sanjay and Zeenat’s marriage was short-lived. Sanjay’s daughter Farah has previously confirmed that her father married Zeenat while he was still married to her mother.Over the years, reports have linked the alleged assault to a confrontation at a Mumbai hotel, where Zeenat reportedly sustained serious injuries to her right eye.Zeenat Aman on dealing with the alleged abuseZeenat has spoken publicly about experiencing physical abuse, although she has not always identified the person involved in her remarks.

During a 1999 appearance on Simi Garewal’s show, ‘Rendezvous with Simi Garewal’, she described how she coped with the painful memories.“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.The actress has also discussed the long-term effects of her eye injury. In a subsequent Instagram post, she explained that the injury had caused her eyelid to droop and affected her vision.Sanjay Khan denies allegations of assaultSanjay Khan, however, has denied the allegations surrounding the alleged assault and disputed claims that he was responsible for Zeenat’s eye condition.In a conversation with Hrishikesh Kannan while discussing his autobiography, ‘The Best Mistakes of My Life’, Sanjay described the accounts circulating about the incident as one-sided and said he had not been given an opportunity to present his version.“I was so pained and horrified with the one-sidedness of the entire story because nobody even asked me what happened. This was a well planned PR attack against me which came like a blitzkrieg,” he said.He also denied slapping Zeenat and attributed her eye condition to heredity.