When we say Mumtaz, the first thing that comes to our mind is her dancing while draped in that iconic orange saree in “Aaj Kal Tere Mere Pyaar Ke Charche”. The actress, who started her career at 11 as a child artiste, went on to become one of the highest paid actresses of her time and starred opposite all leading men including Shammi Kapoor, Jitendra, Rajesh Khanna, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Sunil Dutt, and Dharmendra, among others. At the height of her fame when she was just 27, she bid goodbye to cinema for marriage. In 17 years of her career, the actress starred in over 100 films.
Mumtaz was born to an Indian father and an Iranian mother and started her career as a child actor. However, as she grew up, she was typecast as a B-grade heroine, mostly because she did small roles in multiple films. So, when she wanted to strike out as an actor, many actors refused to share screen with her.
In an interview with The Dawn, Mumtaz said, “I just closed my eyes and did work. I thought the rest is in god’s hands. My start in the film industry was wrong. I won’t blame the heroes for not working with me because everybody wants to climb the ladder of success.”
Mumtaz in Brahmachari film. (Photo: IMDb)
To remove the tag of B heroine, Mumtaz did a series of films with Dara Singh — Veer Bhimsen, Samson, Hercules, Tarzan Comes To Delhi, and Tarzan and King Kong — which the actress was grateful for. However, she only ended up trading the B-tag for ‘stunt heroine’, which again didn’t get her any good offers.
However, with Dilip Kumar’s generosity, the actress bagged the role of one of the leading ladies in his film Ram Aur Shyam. This and her superhit pairing with the newcomer Rajesh Khanna shot her to fame and changed her career trajectory. However, this was hardly the only roadblock she suffered. Over time, Mumtaz shared several insecurities and complexes she faced during her Bollywood sojourn.
(Photo: Reddit)
The actress, who was close friends with Dara Singh, Rajesh Khanna, and Shammi Kapoor, complained how no heroine was friends with her. “I wouldn’t know what’s in someone’s heart. I was a tomboy. I was closer to the boys than the girls. You should ask the heroines why they were not close to me. No one went out of their way to make friends with me. People may be jealous of you or love you; it doesn’t make a difference”, Mumtaz said Filmfare.
In another interview with the Times Entertainment, the actress while speaking about her rivalry with Sharmila Tagore, said, “Heroines cannot be friends, not then, not now. We didn’t do dinners or hang out together. It’s always been like that.”
The actress, now 77, even confessed having a complex about her thighs. In the same interview, Mumtaz said, “We Iranians have heavy thighs. I’ve always had a complex about my thighs. I do seven kilometres of cycling daily to firm them up.”
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Due to this, the actress never sported a bikini in any of her films unlike her contemporaries Sharmila Tagore, Parveen Babi, Zeenat Aman, and Dimple Kapadia except for Feroz Khan’s film Apradh.
Mumtaz was always conscious about her ‘Iranian thighs’ (Photo: IMDb)
The actress in another interview with Zoom said, “I wore a bikini for Feroz Khan. I didn’t have confidence but he had confidence in me. I had a complex about my typical heavy Iranian thighs. He promised me, ‘I will delete the scene if you disapprove of it’. I knew I could trust him. If he promised me that he would cut the seen if I disapproved, I was sure he would not betray me. When I saw the scene, I felt I was looking very nice. Later, I was approached by many producers with roles that demanded that I don the outfit, but I said no. I never wore a bikini after that.
The only time Mumtaz wore a bikini onscreen was during Feroz Khan’s films Apradh. (Photo: IMDb)
The actress also said that she doesn’t miss the camera. “I became a heroine around the age of 13 or 14. I worked extremely hard. Audiences watch the glamour on screen. But if you ask the artiste what goes behind it, it’s not easy. Honestly, there was nothing that attracted me to films again”, Mumtaz told Filmfare.
One thing, however, that annoys Mumtaz is the rumours of her living in slums in her initial years. The actress, married to an NRI Mayur Madhvani, claims her father owned the Astoria Hotel in Colaba and has never lived in a slum. “I challenge anyone to prove that. Why do people lie?” Mumtaz, who mostly resides in London, visits India at times. Her daughter Natasha is married to one of her favourite co-star’s son Fardeen Khan, who recently made his acting comeback.
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