Mumtaz - The Greatest and Most Beautiful Actress

If her other personal attributes are analysed, she would again top the list for beauty, charm, shapely figure (notwithstanding a few spells of slight chubbiness), mobility of facial expressions, expressive beautiful eyes, agility, and expertise in all types of dances, unflawed complexion and what not, the list is unending. She is really fascinating, charming affable, sober, graceful, delicate, gorgeous, loveable, composed, bubbling with vitality, and sexy, or in one word - just a perfect woman. Everybody must have dreamt about her - girls, to be like her; and men, to have a companion like her or maybe she herself.

To quote Shobha De, "She was in the Marilyn Monroe mould - every man's fantasy woman. She is or was, the kind of woman any man would want to pamper and bury in diamonds, silks, satins... She had a courtesan kind of charm. Absolutely top marks go to her as greatest sex symbol. She was cute, impish, voluptuous. The way she used her body was so natural. She looked juicy! Her smile, her eyes, her pug nose, she was all woman. I don't think anyone else projected sexuality the way she did. She was a raving beauty, and in person too, was very attractive. A great smile, a great sense of humour, and a very no-nonsense down-to-earth manner. She was one woman who did not antagonise other women. And I'm sure every man she met lusted after her. She seemed immensely beddable."

My views are further proved by the simple fact that what to talk of her heyday, even after more than two decades Mumtaz left the film scene, people sit up straight the moment she comes on screen. A wave of recognition, jubilation, satisfaction ripples through the hall, acknowledging and announcing her presence. The re-re-runs of some of her movies used to go house full in Delhi too, with tickets sold in black at twice the normal rates, till a few years ago, before the invasion by the soft-porns. In all the cities, her movies still do a good business. In Bhoole Bisre Geet on Doordarshan, and Sa Re Ga Na on Zee TV, her songs were telecast every other day. Zee TV telecasts a number of her films. Doordarshan also screens lot of her movies even now. Some time back Doordarshan re-screened Upasana, followed by Jheel ke us Paar which topped the viewership with 43% compared to Sailaab featuring the then heartthrob with only 41%. This is something unheard of even for other block-buster hits. Doordarshan then quickly repeated her in her come-back movie Aandhiyaan, followed by her Filmfare Award winning movie Khilona. Then we saw her scintillating number O Meri Maina... in Pyar Kiye Jaa, followed by Ye Pyar ko milan hai... and Aap ke peechhe par gayi main... in Ek Naari Ek Brahmchari. Then were screened Ram aur Shyam, Aadmi aur Insaan, Chor Machaye Shore, Roti, ... The films featuring Mumtaz are repeatedly being screened on various regular TV channels and the percentage of her films being screened used to be almost 40%, and on the Movie Channels it used to be 20%. The simple reason for this is that the viewer ship for the movies starring her zooms to the top of the rating charts.

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