Veteran actress, Mumtaz once rejected the marriage proposal of her co-star, Shammi Kapoor despite being madly in love with him. Here's why!
Shamsher Raj Kapoor, fondly known as Shammi Kapoor was one of the legendary actors of Indian cinema from the mid-1950s to mid-1970s and his acting skills were unparalleled. However, not many people are aware of his short fling with the Bollywood actress, Mumtaz. Shammi Kapoor and Mumtaz had acted together in the 1968 film, Brahmachari and had gotten quite close to each other. Shammi Kapoor, who was quite popular for his numerous linkups with his co-actresses had also proposed to her but she had refused it.
Mumtaz and Shammi Kapoor had looked outstanding as a pair and had enthralled their fans with their performances. In fact, the song, Aaj Kal Tere Mere Pyaar Ke Charche went on to become one of the most iconic romantic songs of their times. Not only that, people remember the song till date. Besides giving some hits back to back, Shammi Kapoor had fallen head-over-heels in love with Mumtaz. However, the oh-so-gorgeous actress had turned down his proposal even though she was equally attracted to him.
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In an interview with The Times Of India, Mumtaz had stated the reason behind rejecting Shammi Kapoor's wedding proposal despite the fact that she was equally in love with the evergreen actor. She had refused to get married to him because of the tradition of the Kapoor khandaan, that demands its daughter-in-laws to give up their acting career to get married to their sons and Mumtaz was completely against it.
Mumtaz also had shared that she had family to look after, and therefore leaving acting was never an option. She was quote as saying, ''Kapoors didn’t like it if the bahus in their family were in the film line. Shammiji told me that if I wanted him to be happy with me, I would have to give up my career. Now at that young age, I was very ambitious and wanted to reach somewhere. I wanted to settle my family as well. Just to sit at home didn’t go down with me.''
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However, this did not stop Mumtaz from accepting the reality that no one could love her more than Shammi Kapoor. She had stated, ''The world wanted to marry me but I had to decide who I shall remain happy with. 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?’. Today when I am married to Mayur Madhvani who by the grace of God has money, people believe that I had refused Shammi. Still, all said and done, I don’t think I have ever experienced so much love as Shammi gave me."
Despite the fact that Mumtaz had turned down his wedding proposal, Shammi Kapoor had never badmouthed about her and had always respected her decision. In fact, the iconic actress had gone on record to express her love for Shammi Kapoor. She had said, ''Jaise meri life mein doosra Rajesh Khanna nahin ho sakta...waise hi doosra Shammi Kapoor bhi nahin ho sakta."
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For the unversed, Mumtaz had tied to knot with businessman, Mayur Madhvani in 1974.