Bun Tikki director Faraz Arif Ansari has been able to fulfil his late mother’s wish of him working with Zeenat Aman as he directed the Bollywood veteran for the upcoming movie, the filmmaker wrote in a long Instagram post on Wednesday.

“One evening, while we were cooking together and listening to her ‘Zeenat Aman Hits’ mixtape, she said to me, ‘Gudiya, you have to promise me that you will work with Zeenat ji someday.’ — in many ways, this was her gentle way of telling me that she accepts my decision to follow my filmmaking dreams,” he wrote on Instagram.

Describing his mother as a huge fan of Zeenat, the filmmaker revealed that she didn’t want him to pursue filmmaking. “My Mamma was a huge fan of Zeenat ji. I distinctly remember, after I had told Mamma about my plans to pursue filmmaking as a career, she wasn’t very keen on me going down a path that no one in my family had ever pursued before me.”

Also sharing a picture of Zeenat affectionately patting his cheeks, Faraz went on to add that the photo would have been his mother’s favourite. “I’m sure. she would’ve framed it and kept it, to look at it everyday,” he wrote in his note, thanking Zeenat for making his mother’s dream come true.

Faraz recalled that he could smell the favourite perfume of her mother, who passed away in 2022, while filming an emotional scene with Zeenat for Bun Tikki in 2023. “I closed my eyes and smiled — my Mamma was there. It is with her blessings that I am what I am today and all that I will be. there is no without her,” he wrote/

Bun Tikki star Abhay Deol took to the comment section and wrote, “I love this.”

Also starring Shabana Azmi and child actor Rohaan P Singh, Bun Tikki has recently wrapped up filming. Produced by Manish Malhotra, the upcoming film marks Zeenat’s onscreen reunion with Shabana after the 1982 crime drama Ashanti.