‘Nobody could flirt with Jeetendra, his girlfriend Shobha was too possessive’: Mumtaz

During her busy career in the 60s-70s, Mumtaz was often linked with many of her co-stars. These included Shammi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna and others. However, link-up with Jeetendra was next to impossible, thanks to his then girlfriend, now-wife Shobha Kapoor. (Also read: Mumtaz reveals she takes fillers when ‘too thin’ but never done botox: ‘Botox se lagta hai…’)

In a new interview, Mumtaz has spoken about Shobha and how she would be very possessive of Jeetendra. “Jeetendra ke saath tuning hona mushkil tha (It was difficult to get the tune right with Jeetendra). Nobody could flirt with him. His girlfriend Shobha (Jeetendra’s wife now) was very possessive about him. She was determined to marry him. But again, as usual, he also was very fond of me. But the heroines were not fond of me. But yet I remained chirpy,” she said in an interview to The Times of India.

Mumtaz also spoke about Rajesh Khanna and his split with Anju Mahendroo. “I was astonished. She looked after Rajesh Khanna so well. She truly cared for him. She even looked after his khaana-peena with such sophistication. Mayur and I used to visit Rajesh Khanna and have dinner and drinks with both of them. I hadn’t even dreamt that they would split. How can you end a relationship with someone like her in just one day? It was not right on his part to do that. If you are not getting along with anybody, you need to call that person, sit down with him/her and inform that person,” she said. Rajesh Khanna later married Dimple Kapadia and had two daughters with her.

Mumtaz recently appeared on an episode of Indian Idol. She visited the show as guest with Dharmendra, danced and sang for the contestants. She married Mayur Madhvani ​in 1974 and took a break from acting.

Jeetendra and Shobha have two children–Ekta Kapoor and Tusshar Kapoor. They are also grandparents to Lakshya and Ravie. Shobhaa is known for producing some of the most popular daily soaps on television with Ekta. On February 10, it was announced that she will be stepping down as the head of Alt Balaji with Ekta.