Mumtaz reveals the hefty fees behind her Indian Idol appearance with Dharmendra
Mumtaz revealed she often gets calls to appear on television and talked about her remuneration. Read more!
Mumbai: Bollywood veteran Mumtaz made a rare television appearance on the Indian Idol show along with Dharmendra. Recently, Mumtaz revealed that she had charged a hefty fee of Rs 20 lakh for that TV outing.
Speaking to Vickey Lalwani on his YouTube channel, the actress stated that she usually stayed away from TV appearances.
And added that rare scenarios came with an expensive price tag. "Even today, they call me on television. When I went on TV for the first time with Dharam ji and danced with him on the stage, that was the only time I went on television. And till now, they have contacted me over one hundred times, and I told them about my price… They said that people do it for ₹3-4 lakh, so I told them that I can’t say anything for those people; that’s their wish. They can do it for free also, but this is my price. I have always been like that…. I did only one show, and I took ₹18-20 lakh for that. They said they can’t pay me, and I haven’t done it; I don’t want to do it. Paisa pheko, tamasha dekho (Throw money, enjoy the show)!" shared Mumtaz.
She also revealed that the rejection of the Seeta Aur Geeta offer had other factors involved, other than money.
"Not just fees. But yes, that was also one of the reasons. But, Ramesh Sippy sahab was a big producer and director at that time, so he thought I might to it in ₹2 lakh because he was a big producer. Every big producer has their own ego issues. But thankfully, I was getting so many films already that I didn’t feel this film would do anything special for me. So, things didn’t work out between us. But you see, Hema Malini did it na," she said. The actress stated that she has no regrets about turning down the offer as she was keen on keeping up her value in the industry.
Mumtaz's film career
Mumtaz had established herself as the highest-paid female actor in the early 1970s. Do Raaste, Bandhan, Khilona, are some of her popular films. After her marriage to businessman Mayur Madhvani in 1974, Mumtaz took a 13-year break from acting.
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