5th July 2023, Mumbai: Mumtaz has disclosed that Mehmood presented Dilip Kumar with her reels and pleaded with him to cast her in their first collaboration, Ram Aur Shyam. After Ram Aur Shyam, Mumtaz and Dilip starred in a few more movies together. These included Sadhu Aur Shaitaan and Ram Tere Kitna Naam.
After meeting Mehmood’s brother, Mumtaz spoke about how the late comic actor aided her in advancing her profession. “I just want to say that Mehmood ji had a big hand in my success,” Mumtaz stated in the video that she posted on her Instagram page. Had he not told Yusuf Saab about my name, Dilip Kumar…He brought my reels over to the star and showed him. He said, ‘there is this new girl and you must work with her..you have a double role in the film..’. So, Dilip Kumar was like ‘She is a beautiful, nice and tall girl. Theek hai, mai kaam kar lunga (Fine, I will work with her).”
If he hadn’t told Dilip Kumar all of this, she said, “I would not have been able to work with someone like Dilip Kumar; it would not have been in my destiny. How many people in this world are willing to take the initiative to help someone else?”
“I just wanted to tell this to you guys,” Mumtaz said in the closing of her video. “I was able to collaborate with Dilip Kumar because of Mehmood, who is the head of this family.”
Mumtaz acted in various films after making her Bollywood debut at the young age of 11 in 1958 with Sone Ki Chidiya, before she was paired with Rajesh Khanna and rose to fame opposite him in the ‘70s.
Mumtaz reacted to a question regarding her return to movies during one of her social media live events. “Bollywood? I have no idea. I’m not sure if I’ll land the kind of part that genuinely speaks to my heart while also being kind and well-liked by others. (Laughing) I must first get my husband’s approval. Okay, you may do one, he will say. So perhaps I will. In such case, no.”
-by Kashvi Gala