Actor Rishi Kapoor had to be “propped up” on two cushions to appear taller than actress Zeenat Aman during a flirty scene in Nasir Hussain’s 1977 film Hum Kisise Kum Naheen, the latter said on Monday, recalling how her co-stars often found her height “prohibitive”.

In a note on Instagram, the 73-year-old actress mentioned that it was considered unappealing for an actress to be taller than her on-screen love interest within the “rigid gender constructs of Hindi cinema”.

“Those of you who follow this page know that my co-stars often found my height prohibitive. Within the rigid gender constructs of Hindi cinema (or perhaps world cinema), it was considered unappealing for an actress to be taller than her on-screen love interest. So there we were, Chintu ji and I flirting for the camera on a russet leather couch, but for some reason our seated positions made our height difference more strikingly apparent. Much to Chintu ji’s chagrin, Nasir Saab propped him up on first one and then two cushions to make him appear taller than me,” Aman wrote.

Aman also revealed that from the Kapoor family, she interacted the most with Rishi Kapoor, both socially and professionally. “In fact, in all the years that our careers overlapped, we only featured together in this one song. That too because Director Nasir Hussain had me pinned as a bit of a lucky talisman that year. Why? Because Yaadon ki Baaraat, his previous film in which I had starred, had been a blockbuster hit,” she said.

Aman said that she was pleased by the success of Yaadon ki Baarat and found herself unable to refuse Nasir Hussain’s request for her to play a cameo in Hum Kisise Kum Naheen. “My role involved just this one Qawalli number (the only one of my career) and a romantic scene with Chintu ji (Rishi Kapoor),” she added.

The actress was recently seen in Priyanka Ghose and Nupur Asthana’s Netflix series The Royals alongside Ishaan Khatter and Bhumi Pednekar. It marked Bhumi’s series debut and Zeenat’s first collaboration with Netflix. Aman also has Faraz Arif Ansari’s Bun Tikki in the pipeline.