Zeenat has never been one to mince words. The icon of the ’70s and ’80s was at a ceremony not long ago to talk about why she doesn’t consider herself religious and to put a name to it. It’s very much in character: unvarnished and of the moment, the kind of thing her younger fans are used to seeing on her social media.
Her identity statement lands with clarity
Put to the question on what she believes, she had a view and wasn’t going to be drawn away from it. “I am not religious,” she said, and then laid out the reasons. You have to look at where you come from: a Hindu mother, a father who is Muslim, the same for the father of her kids, a Catholic school education, a German stepfather. It adds up to a certain way of living in the world.
Then comes the part where she makes her case. “I believe in humanity, kindness, peace, equality, and love for people and animals. That is my religion.” No hard feelings, no need to make a point of it – she just stated that all religions are fine and none of them will tell you to do harm.
A second name from her mother
What stood out, though, was the other moniker. “My name from my father is Zeenat Aman, but from my mother’s side I am Laliteshwari,” she put it. Her mother Vardhini was a true believer, a Hindu who would put in two or three hours a day with her puja and for the most part was the one who put her up.
It is something to see from a star we’ve always thought of as a bit of a maverick. There is a duality to it: the discipline and piety of the home, and then the person she is in public, who has her own ideas about belief.
Key takeaways from her remarks:
– Her Hindu name from her mother is ‘Laliteshwari’
– Her mother, Vardhini, observed puja two to three hours daily
– She chooses values over religious labels
– Her upbringing spanned Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, and German influences
– She spoke at the Amrit Ratna 2026 ceremony
A global upbringing, beyond one label
She didn’t try to fit into a box. If you go by her story, you had a life with Hindu and Muslim in the family, some time in a Catholic school, and a European flavour at home. All of that, in her telling, made it so she never had to subscribe to one particular way of worship.
“All religions are good; no religion teaches you to do anything wrong,” is how she put it. In a time when there is so much noise over these things, her not having to pick a side was a welcome change. Very Zeenat.
Where she said it
This was all on display at News18 India’s Amrit Ratna 2026. A fitting place for an honest word on who you are, without any of the show.
Legacy that set the stage
It is the sort of thing you expect from the one who put a new face on the modern heroine in Hindi films. Be it Qurbani, Don, Hare Rama Hare Krishna or Satyam Shivam Sundaram, she was making waves and bankrolling some of the top bachelors in the business, from Amitabh to Rishi Kapoor and Dev Anand.
When she speaks now, you listen because it has weight. It’s not for show. And if you check her Instagram, you’ll find the same kind of open book, with the kind of stories and takes that have a way of pulling in a new generation.
Why it connects today
There was no sermon in it, just a straight line. To say ‘Laliteshwari’ is to nod to the devout side of her past. To say ‘humanity’ is to show you have been close to a number of faiths and seen what they are. It is how you can be specific about who you are without shutting anyone out.
We are in an era of loud pronouncements, so a little empathy from Zeenat Aman is like a breath of fresh air. The rebel of yesteryear is still at it, only now she is using her life story to build a bridge instead of a wall.
