Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan's Sholay created history when it ran in theatres for 5 years upon release. However, do you know before Sholay this record was held by another movie made in the 1940s? Yes, and the actress who starred in the film was then known to be India's first jubilee girl.
The actress we are talking about started her career in the Punjabi film industry and became a superstar with her second film. She later ventured into Bollywood and ruled the industry before leaving the country forever. She is none other than Mumtaz Shanti.
Mumtaz Shanti was an actress in pre-partition Indian cinema who worked in Bollywood films in the 1940s and also the early 1950s. Mumtaz was born in 1926 in Dinga, in the Gujrat District of the Punjab Province of British India into a Punjabi Muslim family.
The actress started her career with the Punjabi film Sohni Kumharan and then starred in the film Mangti which celebrated its Diamond Jubilee and became a superstar in the Punjabi film industry. After this, she ventured into Bollywood.
The actress made her Bollywood debut with the film Basant, alongside Madhubala and Ulhas. The film was a major hit at the box office. She was at the peak of her career in the 1940s and early 50s with successful films like Kismet alongside Ashok Kumar, Badalti Duniya and Dharti alongside Trilok Kapoor, and Ghar Ki Izzat alongside Dilip Kumar.
However, Kismet was the biggest hit of her career. The film starring her and Ashok Kumar broke all previous records when it came to box office revenues. It ran for a record three years at Kolkata’s Roxy Cinema. This record was broken years later by Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra's Sholay.
Mumtaz Shanti married Walli Sahab, a film director and writer in pre-partition Bollywood then after partition they both moved to Pakistan in the early 1950s. She then retired from her entertainment career. Her husband died of a heart attack in 1977 and later, she passed away in 1994 in Pakistan.
The DNA app is now available for download on the Google Play Store. Please download the app and share your feedback with us.
