Veteran actress Zeenat Aman has ignited a fresh discussion about the portrayal of women in Bollywood, specifically addressing the industry's history with "eve-teasing" and "slut-shaming" through her recent social media posts. Aman reflected on the evolving representation of female leads in Hindi cinema by revisiting scenes from her films Dostana and Teesri Ankh.

In a recent Instagram post, the actress drew attention to the stark contrast in how women were depicted in Bollywood films released just two years apart. Aman pointed out that weeks prior, audiences might have seen her character in Dostana being "eve-teased and slut shamed" by Amitabh Bachchan's character. She then juxtaposed this with a scene from Teesri Ankh, where she is the aggressor towards Dharmendra's character.

Aman questioned whether the roles for heroines in Hindi cinema had genuinely undergone such a radical transformation in the short span between the two films. While remaining skeptical, she acknowledged that the Teesri Ankh scene offers "a nice gender flip on the usual trope". In this scene, Dharmendra's character, Ashok, is portrayed as naive and overwhelmed, while Aman's character, Barkha, is "roguish and completely inappropriate," aggressively pursuing him as he becomes the "reluctant and irritated object of her desire".

The veteran actress further elaborated that the contrasting reactions to the two scenes stem from the reversal of traditional roles. She stated, "The truth is I can't endorse Barkha's approach, just as I couldn't endorse Inspector Vijay's! Banter and mischief are excellent tools of courtship, but I think our industry sometimes took these to the extreme". Aman also recognized Bollywood's tendency to glorify obsession and infatuation instead of genuine, healthy love, admitting that she contributed to this trend.

Aman concluded her post by emphasizing the importance of consent and mutual respect in relationships. "This is my small attempt to address it. Let me be clear, in matters of relationships, consent is essential, and respect must be mutual. Trust me, I learned this through experience," she wrote.

Notably, Zeenat Aman has previously spoken fondly of working with Dharmendra, even calling him her favorite co-star. In October 2025, she shared anecdotes and throwback pictures from their films, highlighting a gender-bending song from Kaatilon Ke Kaatil to advocate for freedom of expression in dressing.