Mumtaz was very close friends with Rajesh Khanna as they also shared a great rapport on-screen. Khanna’s pairing with Mumtaz was the most appreciated onscreen. But Mumtaz was also great friends with Khanna’s girlfriend Anju Mahendru. In a recent interview, she was asked about Anju’s reaction when Khanna was dating her and then suddenly decided to marry Dimple Kapadia.Mumtaz reacted and said in an interview with Filmy Beat, “I don’t think she really cared. She said, “Theek hai. If he really thinks someone is better or he loves her. I wish him all the best, he’s a nice person. Ek cheez aap kabhi bhi forcefully nahi le sakte. Ya toh hota hai, nahi hota hai ya dhokha hota hai. Ya toh saccha pyaar samajhke insaan dhoka khaa leta hai par kuch log seriously pyar karte the but muqaddar mein rehta nahi tha. (She didn’t really care. She was like, ‘if he finds someone better, if he’s happy, let him be.’ See one cannot force love. Either there is love or there is cheating. And sometimes even if there is true love, two people are not meant to be together.)”The veteran actress further said, “She was like a wife to him. Wahin rehte the, sambhalte the. She used to entertain me, my husband. She used to offer my husband drink, khana peena, unka ghar sambhalna. Bagair shadi ke wife hoti hai, she was like that. (She was like a wife to him without getting married. She was staying with him and handling his entire house).” Mumtaz also defended Anju and spoke about the way society looks at a girlfriend and a wife. She admitted that when there is love, a girlfriend also should get the same amount of respect. The actress said, “Jab insaan ek doosre se pyaar karta hai, woh shadi se zyada important hai. Kitne log shadi karke chhod dete hai but why is girlfriend less than a wife? Until and unless she is doing something really wrong but I feel, joh biwi ke saath taaluk hota hai wahi girlfriend ke saath hota hai. Sirf usko 10 bacche paida karne ka haq hota hai, gf ko nahi hota hai. That’s it, what else? (When people love each other, that’s more important than marriage. People leave each other even after getting married. So, why is girlfriend considered less than a wife? Unless she is doing something really wrong, but a man has the same relationship with a girlfriend which he has with his wife. The only difference is, a wife has the right to have ten kids with that man which the girlfriend doesn’t).”Rajesh Khanna passed away in 2012 and Anju was always with him till the day he died.
