When veteran actor Mumtaz shook a leg with Shammi Kapoor in ‘Aajkal tere mere pyaar ke charche’, the audience was transfixed with their on-screen pairing. Mumtaz, who was 16 years old at the time, became a sensation and her journey into stardom was well on its way but behind the scenes, she was facing a major heartbreak. Mumtaz and Shammi Kapoor had a brief romance during those years but it came to an end when Mumtaz refused to marry him.
In a recent chat with Pinkvilla, Mumtaz shared that she “loved him tremendously” and he loved her too. The Aap Ki Kasam actor shared that she “felt sad” that she couldn’t marry him. She said, “I was only around 17. He was 18 years older than me. It was too early for me to get married. Mujhe kucch banna tha. (I wanted to achieve something).”
Mumtaz said that their break-up was pleasant as they parted ways “with understanding” as he was “very sweet and caring towards” her. Recalling those days, the Roti actor said that had she gotten married to Shammi Kapoor at the time, “it wouldn’t have worked” because she would have always “held a regret in my heart.”
“I wanted to act. I wanted to achieve something. The Kapoor family was strict about their bahus not working in films,” she said. Talking about Shammi’s Kapoor’s second wife Neela Devi, Mumtaz said that she was a “wonderful lady, a beautiful person.” “She suited him perfectly and handled him so well,” she added.
In a previous interview with ETimes, Mumtaz had said that no one believed that she had refused to marry him. She said, “Shammi Kapoor was very loving and caring with me. Nobody would believe that we were in love. Nobody believed that I had said ‘no’ to him for marriage because Shammi’s status in riches was higher; they said ‘how can Mumtaz refuse Shammi?’”
Mumtaz’s appearance in Shammi Kapoor’s Brahmchari was her first big break. She later went on to have a highly successful career in the movies.
