Veteran actress Mumtaz has revealed the hefty fee she charged for her one and only television appearance. In 2023, she appeared on Indian Idol alongside her Jheel Ke Us Paar co-star Dharmendra, taking home Rs 18-20 lakh for the special episode.
In an interview with Vickey Lalwani on his YouTube channel, Mumtaz shared she usually steers clear of television due to her demand for a higher fee than most of her contemporaries.
The actress said, “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 in Rs 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."
She added, "I have always been like that…. I did only one show, and I took Rs 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)!”
Mumtaz further talked about the time she rejected Seeta Aur Geeta because of lower remuneration. The film eventually went to Hema Malini. The actress said, "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 do it in Rs 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.”
Mumtaz was a reigning queen of Bollywood in the early 1970s, starring in blockbuster films like Do Raaste, Bandhan, and Khilona. The actress married businessman Mayur Madhvani in 1974 and took a 13-year break from acting to focus on her family.
