Mumtaz Shanti

Mumtaz Shanti Biography

Mumtaz Shanti was one of the earliest female stars of Bollywood cinema. She played the lead role in 1943 blockbuster Kismat, which broke all collection records till then. Its record was only broken after 6 years in 1949 by Barsaat. Basant (1942) and Ghar Ki Izzat (1948) are other two major hits of his illustrious film career. She played lead role opposite Ashok Kumar in Kismat, and acted opposite Dilip Kumar in Ghar Ki Izzat. Mumtaz Shanti was a very popular movie star of the 40’s. She was active in Indian film industry till partition and passed away in Pakistan around 1993-1994.

The most successful movie of her career Kismat ran over 3 years in a single theatre in Kolkata and it included some memorable hits of Naushad like Door Hato Ai Duniya Walo and Dhire Dhire Aa Re Badal. This movie is regarded among the top all-time blockbusters of Hindi cinema, if inflation records are adjusted. She played the role of a single mother in this movie, which was regarded as a very bold theme in those days. It was for the first time an unmarried pregnant woman appeared as a character in Indian cinema and hence Kismat is regarded as a path breaker.

Mumtaz started her career in the early thirties in Lahore working as a stage artist for a local theatre. Lahore’s Mangti was her first film appearance and very soon she reached Mumbai in the dream to become an actress. She got two back-to-back success movies in the form of Basant (1942) and Kismet (1943) and established herself as one of the highly paid actresses of her time.

After India partition, she moved to Pakistan along with her husband Wali Saheb, a filmmaker. She retired from movies and became a film producer. Their son Zafar Iqbal is a noted documentary film maker.

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Updated: October 10, 2014