Dilip Kumar wrote his own dialogues, reveals Mumtaz: ‘He wouldn't say dialogues written by anyone else, wrote his own'
Veteran actor Mumtaz starred in several hit films with Dara Singh at the beginning of her career and was often tagged as a 'B-grade actor' by many in the Hindi film industry. While all the A-list actors refused to work with her because of this label, Dilip Kumar came to her rescue and decided to cast her in his 1969 film Ram Aur Shyam. In a recent interview, Mumtaz expressed her gratitude for the actor while she revealed that Dilip Kumar would write his own dialogues, and never said the dialogues that were writtenf or him.
During a conversation with Radio Nasha, Mumtaz recalled how Mehmood introduced her to Dilip Kumar and showed him her reel, asking him to cast her in Ram Aur Shyam. She said, 'Dilip Kumar looked at the reel and said, 'She is beautiful and she dances well. I will do the film with her.' I'm very thankful to him. When he agreed to do the film with me that's why I could become an actor. If he would have said 'no', I couldn't have become an actor.' Mumtaz added that because the then-superstar agreed to star in a film with her, other actors followed suit. 'When he agreed to do the film with me, nobody else refused. Everybody worked with me after that,' she said.
Mumtaz also shared an interesting fact about Dilip Kumar and how the late legendary star would write his own dialogues. She recalled, 'Dilip Kumar was very down-to-earth. He would write his own dialogues, he wouldn't say dialogues written by anyone else. Unless the director emphasised, he wouldn't say anything written by anyone else.' Mumtaz did not specify if this was Dilip's style of working across all his films, or just for Ram Aur Shyam.
Dilip Kumar famously chose Ram Aur Shyam after he was told by a psychologist to choose lighter subjects. After working in Devdas, Dilip's mental health suffered a bit so he chose a comedy that allowed him to take a break from serious roles.
ALSO READ | Mumtaz breaks down as she remembers Shammi Kapoor's last days: 'He said he doesn't have long to live and…'
In an earlier interaction with Dawn News, Mumtaz had spoken about why she wasn't choosy with her roles at the beginning of her career. 'I was given the label of a B-grade actor because I did a lot of small roles. I also did comedy with Mehboob sahab. I just closed my eyes and did work. I thought the rest is in god's hands. My start in the film industry was wrong. I won't blame the heroes for not working with me because everybody wants to climb the ladder of success. But Mehboob sahab showed one of my scenes to Dilip Kumar sahab and asked him if he would work with me in Ram Aur Shyam. He told him that the girl was nice and he agreed. Dilip sahab was a very down-to-earth person,' she had said.
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