Raza Murad: Sanjay Khan had no right to raise hand on Zeenat Aman

Zeenat Aman is remembered as a screen icon who broke the rules in 1970s and 1980s Bollywood, but the life behind the glamour has been far more complicated. Now veteran actor Raza Murad, her first cousin, has spoken about the loneliness that followed her parents’ separation, her short-lived marriage to Sanjay Khan, and the alleged hotel confrontation that Zeenat has long connected to an injury in her right eye.

A childhood marked by displacement

Raza explained that Zeenat’s father and his mother were siblings, making the two actors first cousins. Within the family, Zeenat was lovingly called Babbushah. But her early years were unsettled. When her parents separated, Zeenat moved between their homes, and Raza believes the break deeply affected an only child who was close to her father.

He recalled that she later attended a convent school in Panchgani, where a sense of isolation crept in. With both parents eventually marrying other people, Zeenat did not experience the stable family atmosphere a child might need, Raza added.

The alleged hotel incident

Raza also addressed the long-reported story around Zeenat’s relationship with Sanjay Khan. He said Zeenat had rushed from Lonavala to Mumbai before a confrontation took place at a hotel. He called it a violent incident and said it affected her eye. He did not excuse violence against women. “Whatever happened was wrong. You have no right to raise your hand against a woman,” he said.

He also spoke about the complications of relationships with someone already married. Sanjay Khan was married to Zarine Khan at the time. Raza said that anyone entering such a relationship must think through the consequences and prepare mentally for the repercussions.

The two versions that remain

Sanjay and Zeenat reportedly married in 1978 while Sanjay was still married to Zarine, and the marriage did not last. 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 tied the alleged assault to a Mumbai hotel encounter that left Zeenat with serious damage to her right eye.

Zeenat has spoken publicly about physical abuse without always naming the person involved. On Simi Garewal’s show Rendezvous with Simi Garewal in 1999, she said she had mentally removed the painful memory, the way the human mind closes off something unpleasant. Later, on Instagram, she explained that the injury had caused her eyelid to droop and affected her vision.

Sanjay Khan denies the allegation. While discussing his autobiography The Best Mistakes of My Life, he told Hrishikesh Kannan that the story was one-sided and that nobody had asked him what happened. He called it a well-planned PR attack and denied slapping Zeenat, attributing her eye condition to heredity.

Why this still resonates

For fans, this is one of Bollywood’s most painful unresolved chapters. A beloved star’s injury, a family account, and a flat denial have coexisted for decades. Raza’s words add a personal voice from inside Zeenat’s world, but they do not settle the disagreement. Here is the short version:

• Raza Murad says the hotel confrontation was violent and affected Zeenat Aman’s right eye.
• Zeenat has said the injury caused a drooping eyelid and vision trouble; Sanjay Khan denies causing it.
• The two accounts remain irreconcilable, with no new evidence presented in this interview.

That leaves readers with a harder judgement: believing Zeenat’s account, or Sanjay’s, depends on which version of a decades-old incident one finds credible.

Source: The Times of India