Mumtaz says Yash Chopra asked her to marry him '1000 times': 'Aye moti...'

In a recent interview, 70s Bollywood star Mumtaz opened up about her personal life, revealing that filmmaker Yash Chopra had asked her to marry him more than once. Despite his interest, Mumtaz said she never accepted his proposals because she wasn’t romantically drawn to him and didn’t feel any spark between them.

Mumtaz revealed that although she was never in love with Yash Chopra, he proposed to her multiple times.  While speaking to Vickey Lalwani, she said, "Not once, he must've asked me 1000 times. But I was not in love with him, so how could I have married him? I'm exaggerating about 1000 times, but he told me several occasions, 'Aye moti, I love you yaar, marry me'."

The Khilona actress further shared that she believed marriage required a certain chemistry, which she felt was completely missing between them. She added, "But, you see, to have such a close relationship with anybody, you have to fall in love with the person. You have to be close to the person, and for that, you have to have chemistry. If you don't have the chemistry, how can you live together as a married couple? I never had that chemistry with him."

However, Mumtaz admitted she was once drawn to Shammi Kapoor. Despite the significant age difference of over 17 years, she had genuine feelings for him. But she chose not to pursue the relationship, as Raj Kapoor had a strict rule that women in the Kapoor family were not allowed to work in films.

She further added, "Shammi Kapoor was a very good-looking man, and I liked him. There is nothing to hide, nothing to deny. There was a 17-18 years difference between us, but I didn't care. I wanted to marry him."

She also spoke fondly of Shammi Kapoor's wife, describing her as “a very nice person, a genuinely good human being, and a wonderful housewife.”