On Janmashtami night, Chowdaiah Memorial Hall reverberated with the chants of "Hare Krishna Hare Ram..." as a packed house cheered euphoria to intoxicating drum beats and the trumpet. And swaying along with them was none other than the diva herself. Dressed in crimson-red with a floral garland around her neck, Zeenat Aman had the crowd in raptures. The phenomenal rock number was RD Burman's 'Dum Maro Dum' from the 1970's blockbuster 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna'.

This and scores of other hits from Asha Parekh and Zeenat Aman movies held the audience in thrall in 'The Rendezvous', a live chat accompanied by music, on Saturday. Going down memory lane, the actresses of the 60s and 70s, looking as fabulous as ever, chatted with filmmaker Brahmanand Sigh about their life and works. Zeenat, who is credited with introducing the western look and style to Bollywood, recounted how she got the last-minute offer for 'Hare Rama..' when she was ready to pack her bags and leave for Germany with her mother, after her first two films flopped.

"Initially, the offer was for Tanuja but she declined to play Dev Anand's sister. I readily lapped it up as I found the 'hippy' role interesting," said Zeenat, adding that she stepped into the industry at a time when women played only two defined roles: The seedhi-sadhi sari-clad sad heroine or the vamp in a mini-skirt, with a cigarette and a wicked smile. "It was either white or black. I brought in the grey element with the 'bad-but-good-at-heart' female roles through films like 'Hare Rama', 'Ajnabi' and 'Roti Kapda Aur Makaan'."

Asha Parekh evoked nostalgia when she recalled her association with heroes, including Rajesh Khanna and Shammi Kapoor, and directors Nasir Hussain and Shakti Samanta.

On her stepping down as chairperson of the Censor Board, the 74-year-old veteran said: "People didn't like me because I opposed the use of abusive language in films."

The evening brought together some of the best singing talents like Sinchan Dixit, Anjana Padmanabhan, Kinjal Chatterjee and Gaurav Bangia, who rendered hit numbers from the actresses' films. 'Yashomati Maiya Se Bole Nanda Lala' from 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram' was the Janmashtami special. Trumpet player Kishore Sodha and violin brothers Deb Sankar and Jyoti Sankar were the special attraction. The event was organized by MAAM Entertainment.