Mumtaz Opens Up About Her Rivalry With Sharmila Tagore; Says 'She Had More Flops With Rajesh Khanna'

Mumtaz reveals how her enmity with Sharmila Tagore never affected her work with Rajesh Khanna as he never fuelled the rivalry.

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New Delhi: Who says catfights exists in Bollywood now, the rivalry trend between two heroines has been since the 70s and one of the most talked about rivals of that time was Sharmila Tagore and Mumtaz, both the leading ladies reportedly couldn't stand each other and maintained a safe distance from each other during their career phase. In her latest interview with Reddit, Mumtaz speaks about her most talked about rivalry with veteran actress Sharmila Tagore.

Talking about how she worked more with then superstar Rajesh Khanna and how he never encouraged the fights between the two ladies," I respect her (Sharmila Tagore) a lot. She is far more educated and sophisticated than me. I started working at the age of eight, so I learned everything on the job. Whether it is Sharmila or any other heroine, I never had time to interact with them."

Adding further Mumtaz claimed Sharmila Tagore had more flops with Rajesh Khanna," But yes, I did more films with Kaka (Rajesh Khanna) than Sharmilaji. It was god’s blessing that not one film of mine with Kaka flopped. Sharmilaji had flops with him."

Mumtaz even revealed how Rajesh Khanna was very possessive about her compared to Sharmila Tagore as he largely worked with both of them," Rajesh Khanna never fuelled the rivalry or spoke a word against . But he would get upset when I signed films with other heroes like Dharmendraji or Devsaab. But he worked with other heroines; I never sulked. He thought he owned me. But never mind, it meant that he cared for me."

In one of her old interviews with Times Entertainment, Mumtaz spoke about her rival Sharmila where she claimed how during those times actresses couldn't be friends with each other and made headlines," 
Heroines cannot be friends, not then, not now. We didn’t do dinners or hang out together. It’s always been like that."

Sharmila Tagore is still in the game today and her legacy with Saif Ali Khan to Sara Ali Khan in the film industry is hailed by her fans.