Mumtaz- A Tribute

Shah Jahan built a Taj for his. I am no Shah Jahan, so I will simply write a blog. This one is for the yesteryear actress called Mumtaz. No relation to the wife of Mr. Jahan- at least not that I know.

She was one who came up the hard way, from bit roles and vampish roles (villain's moll etc.) to play some good roles in many films. A couple that I recall were in Roti with Rajesh Khanna, and Khilona with Sanjeev Kumar (he is a mentally ill man, and she tends to him). In the film Roti, there was a great chemistry between her and Rajesh Khanna, and the song, Gore Rang pe na itna gumaan kar was one of my favourites. Bindiya chamkegi choodi khankegi from Do Raaste also made her famous.

She was never considered a major or great actress, but she had a sizeable number of hit films. Many with Khanna (Aap ki Kasam), but some with Dharmendra (Loafer), Dev Anand (Tere Mere Sapne, Hare Rama Hare Krishna in which she was the 'kanchi' whose preet was sanchi.), Manoj Kumar (Patthar ke Sanam), Shammi Kapoor (Bramhachari-Aaj kal tere mere pyar ke charche har zabaan par), Biswajit (Mere Sanam), Jeetendra (Jigri Dost and I think Himmat), Dilip Kumar (Ram aur Shyam), Sanjay Khan (Mela), and so on.

She was lovely, bubbly and mostly positive in her roles. Owned some tea estates through her hubby in Ooty/Coonnoor. Brought a natural freshness to the screen. One song of hers from the film AAdmi aur Insaan was my all-time favourite- Zindagi ittefaq hai. Probably true.