Apna Desh - 1972

The oomph and spirit of Mumtaz

Dinesh Raheja

In the rollicking sixties comedy, Pyar Kiye Jaa, a still adolescent Mumtaz played a naive starlet who dreams of seeing her name up on billboards.

In hindsight, the role seemed to have a few semi-autobiographical shades.

Mumtaz started her career as a bit role player, made the transition to stunt hero's arm キャンディー (Samson, Rustom-e-Hind), to vamp (Mere Sanam, Kaajal), to comedian's girl (Pyar Kiye Jaa), to 秒 lead (Humraaz, Aadmi Aur Insaan), before finally striking it big as a much sought after leading lady who gave three hits with superstar Rajesh...