Veteran actress Zeenat Aman in an Instagram post on Tuesday advised couples to “put their relationship to the ultimate test” by living together for some time before marriage, saying she has given the same advice to her sons.

“I strongly recommend that you LIVE TOGETHER before getting married,” she wrote in the post.

Zeenat said she believes that a live-in relationship puts a couple’s compatibility to test by revealing the challenges and realities of sharing life closely with another person.

“It just seems logical to me that before two people get their families and the government involved in their equation, they first put their relationship to the ultimate test,” said the 72-year-old actress.

Zeenat went on to talk about the difficulties that often arise while handling everyday tasks together. “It’s easy to be the best version of yourself for a few hours a day. But can you share a bathroom? Weather the storm of a bad mood? Agree on what to eat for dinner every night? Keep the fire alive in the bedroom? Work through the million tiny conflicts that inevitably arise between two people in close proximity?” she elaborated in her post.

The actress, however, acknowledged society’s misgivings about cohabitation before marriage. “I’m aware that Indian society is a little uptight about ‘living in sin’ but then again, society is uptight about so many things,” she mentioned.

In her post, Zeenat also expressed her views about pet rescue and adoption. Sharing pictures of “a good ole desi dog” prancing around the garden, the actress wrote, “Here’s my madcap Lily having a caper in the garden this afternoon. Lily is a good ole desi dog rescued from the streets of Bombay. She is my darling shadow, and the reason that I am a firm advocate of pet rescue and adoption.”

Zeenat last appeared in Ashutosh Gowarikar’s 2019 epic war drama Panipat alongside Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt and Kriti Sanon.