Mumtaz,  not Jaya Bhaduri, was the original choice for female lead in Prakash Mehra's Zanzeer 


Mumtaz's marriage to Mayur Madhvani led to the entry of Jaya in the film 


By Rajesh Ahuja 


Bollywood history is replete with stories of missed opportunities and one actor's loss turning out to be another actor's gain. 


As is well known, Prakash Mehra's action thriller Zanzeer is a typical case of the film proving to be a missed opportunity for actors like Dev Anand,  Dharmendra and Raaj Kumar and turning out to be a fortune for Amitabh Bachchan,  who skyrocketed to fame as the new 'angry young man ' of Bollywood with the film. 


Prakash Mehra's Zanzeer also proved to be a missed opportunity for actress Mumtaz. 


It turns out that Mumtaz,  a huge star in the late 60s and early 70s, was the original choice for the heroine of Zanzeer. 


According to the biography of legendary actor Pran, Mumtaz was originally slated to be the female interest in Zanzeer but after her marriage to Mayur Madhvani, she decided to quit films. 


Mumtaz was the original choice for female lead in Zanzeer 




'Mumtaz, originally slated to be the female interest in the film,  got married to Mayur Madhvani and decided to quit films. So, she returned the signing amount that Prakash Mehra had given her for Zanzeer,'the biography said. 


After Mumtaz quit the film, Jaya was approached for the role.  However,  Jaya, who was doing a role in Prakash Mehra's 'Samadhi', was not keen to do what she saw as a 'small role ' in 'Zanzeer '. However,  after Prakash Mehra again requested her to do the film,  she agreed to do it. 


Speaking in the biography,  Prakash Mehra said, 'Jaya, who was working in another film that I was directing,  'Samadhi', was not keen to do another small ro,which in 'Zanzeer ' where it would be called a special appearance.  But Amitabh and Jaya were courting and so we once more asked Jaya to do Zanzeer which she did. ' 


Amitabh Bachchan, who made his Hindi film debut in Khwaja Ahmed Abbas's 'Saat Hindustani', starred in several box office failures like 'Parwana', Reshma Aur Shera', 'Ek Nazar', 'Raste Ka Pathar' , 'Sanjog' and Guddi', till Prakash Mehra's Zanzeer skyrocketed him to fame as the new 'angry young man ' of Bollywood.  


Zanzeer was written by Salim and Javed .


Also Read 


Zanzeer: the musical chairs for the casting of hero before entry of Amitabh Bachchan 


https://raju0568.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-musical-chairs-for-casting-of-hero.html


When Pran charged just one rupee from Raj Kapoor for Bobby 



Pran and Dev Anand: a lucky combination in Bollywood 






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
 Nafisa Ali, not Padmini Kolhapure, was the first choice for Nasir Hussain's Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai  By Rajesh Ahuja   Padmini Kolhapure may today seem the obvious choice for Nasir Hussain's musical thriller Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai with her natural beauty and vivacity but not many are aware that she was not the original choice for the film.  The original choice for the female lead in Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai , which created a buzz for its chartbuster music,  was former Miss India Nafisa Ali, it has been revealed in Rishi Kapoor's autobiography Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor uncensored.  Writing in his autobiography,  Rishi Kapoor,  who was the male lead for the film, said, 'around the same time as Junoon (which was the debut cinematic venture of Nafisa Ali) , Nasir Hussain was drawing up a contract with Nafisa Ali to work with me in Zamaane Ko Dikhana Hai . '  Opposition by Nafisa Ali's father,  however,  put a spanner in her casting for ...
Read more
Image
 Raj Kapoor wanted to cast Nafisa Ali for Henna  Though Nafisa agreed to do Henna, her father disapproved of her joining films  By Rajesh Ahuja  Henna , the film on India Pakistan relations envisioned by  Raj Kapoor,  may today be remembered as Pakistani actress Zeba Bakhtiyar's debut in Bollywood but it is a little known fact that the legendary actor Director had envisioned former Miss India Nafisa Ali as the female lead of the film.  In his autobiography Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor uncensored ,  the late Rishi Kapoor revealed that his father Raj Kapoor always wanted to cast Nafisa Ali as the female lead of Henna . But it was not to be!  Writing in his autobiography,  Rishi Kapoor said that though Raj Kapoor wanted to cast Nafisa Ali in Henna , and even she had agreed to do the film,  her father was against her joining the film business.  Raj Kapoor wanted to cast Nafisa Ali in Henna  Talking about Nafisa Ali,  Rish...
Read more
Image
 When Jeetendra refused the offer to do Tinnu Anand's Shahenshah  Jeetendra was offered the film after Amitabh's accident on sets of Coolie  By Rajesh Ahuja  Shahenshah ,  a film which marked the comeback of megastar Amitabh Bachchan after a brief gap due to his foray in politics,  was also offered to Bollywood actor Jeetendra.  In his autobiography Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor uncensored , Rishi Kapoor revealed that after Amitabh's accident on the sets of Coolie ,  Tinnu Anand and his brother Bittu Anand had approached Jeetendra, who was then a  top ranking star, for Coolie.  Writing in his autobiography, Rishi Kapoor said, 'many years ago, I remember, when my closest buddy Bittu Anand fell on hard times and needed to be bailed out,  I did a couple of films for him but they were all flops.  Jeetendra was a very big star at the start of the 1980s, getting second billing after Amitabh Bachchan.  Jeetendra was offered the l...
Read more