Actor Minoo Mumtaz passes away

NEW DELHI: If popular Hindi cinema is a seamless journey of songs and dances in the 1950s and 60s,

Minoo Mumtaz

was among its surefooted and effervescent practitioners. Two delightful tracks that she pranced to are permanently lodged in the rucksack of public memory: ‘Boojh mera kya naam re’ (film: CID, 1956) and ‘Saakiya aaj mujhe neend nahi aayegi’ (film:

Sahib Bibi

aur Ghulam, 1962).

The sister of the famed comedian Mehmood, who also acted as the leading lady opposite Balraj Sahni in the crime thriller, Black Cat (1959), passed away on Friday night in a hospital in Brampton, a city near Toronto where she resided, family sources said.

Her younger brother Anwar Ali's wife Mona Mathur Ali told PTI that she was diagnosed with cancer a few days ago but that may not have been the reason for her demise. “There were other health issues,” she said.

Minoo Mumtaz’s father Mumtaz Ali was a dancer in Bombay Talkies in the 1930s-40s. “I was 13-14 and interested in dancing. Though my mother objected, my father encouraged me to take to dancing. Let her work, he said. That’s how I came into the industry,” she said in an interview with Farruk Viqar, available on YouTube. Born Malikunnisa Ali, she is said to have got her screen name from the great Meena Kumari.

Her felicity with dance moves and fluency in emoting with eyes saw her flourish in the film world. She matched steps with the incomparable Helen in ‘Aji chale aao' (film: Halaku, 1956) and with Kumkum ('

Reshmi

salwar kurta jaali ka' (film:

Naya Daur

, 1957)’. The rare Asha-Geeta Dutt duet, ‘Jaanu jaanu re’ was filmed on Madhubala and her in ‘Insaan Jaag Utha’ (1959). One of the finest, though less remembered, numbers picturized on her was in Dara Singh’s film, 'Faulad' (1962). The song required her to feign love and eventually betray the hero and

Minoo

was perfect in conveying those emotions in what’s one of Asha Bhonsle’s utterly alluring renditions, 'Jaane jaana yun na dekho.'

Apart from 'CID' and 'Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam', Minoo also acted in Guru Dutt’s 'Kaagaz Ke Phool' (1959) and 'Chaudhvin Ka Chand' (1960) and had a pivotal negative role in Devendra Goel’s superhit, 'Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan' (1959). She also displayed impeccable comic timing in her roles with Johnny Walker and Om Prakash.

Minoo Mumtaz quit work after her marriage to director SA Akbar ('Chhote Nawab' and 'Johar Mehmood in Hong Kong') in the Sixties. She later migrated to Canada.