When was Mehmood born?

Mehmood was born on 29 September 1932.

What is Mehmood known for?

Mehmood is an Indian producer, main lead, supporting actor, director, singer, actor, supporting actress, known for films such as Bluffmaster, Ghar Bazar, Barsaat Ki Raat, Judaai , Dushman Duniya Ka.

How many films has Mehmood worked in?

IFH lists 280 titles in Mehmood's filmography.

Mehmood — Filmography & Biography

Biography

It was Raj Kapoor, who recognized Mehmood’s talent While Mehmood was running a helter shelter seeking a good role, eminent actor and filmmaker Raj Kapoor, noticed him and was impressed by Mehmood’s dancing ability. He was making the film Parvarish (1958) and was looking for an actor who was good at dance as he is shown as the son of Nachnewali (Nautch girl). In this film, Mehmood had a parallel role with Raj Kapoor and the two had a song together. The song was Mama O Mama O Mama….In this particular song, Mehmood outclassed Raj Kapoor but instead of being furious, Raj Kapoor was so happy that he repeated him in his next film Shriman Satyawadi (1960). Both the films were hit and Mehmood became a famous name! He was flooded with offers and even cast as a hero in B-grade films like Chhote Nawab, Shabnam, Bhoot Bangla etc. South Filmmakers made Mehmood a Star Comedian Despite gaining a name and movies as a hero; stardom still evaded Mehmood but his association with South Film banners like L.V. Prasad, AVM, Gemini Pictures etc opened doors of success. With films like Chhoti Bahen, Sasural, Hamrahi, Zindagi etc Mehmood became a Star Comedian. In fact, after Sasural (1961) Mehmood formed a superlative pair with Shubha Khote and the duo ruled the entire 60’s giving mega hits films Grihasti, Bharosa, Ziddi and Love In Tokyo. Mehmood’s first Filmfare award In the 60’s if Mehmood was ruling as the undisputed comedian, Shammi Kapoor was gaining popularity as a hero with great comic timing hence when Mehmood and Shammi Kapoor came together in the film Dil Tera Diwana (1963) the audience went bananas as both blazed the screen with great comedy. Mehmood outshined Shammi Kapoor with his hilarious acts and went on to win his first Filmfare award. Mehmood’s most hilarious acts The list of hilarious acts of Mehmood is endless but some of his most dynamic acts that force even a stone-hearted person to smile include his superlative performance as an aspiring film director in the film Pyar Kiye Jaa (1967). The scene where he narrates the film’s scary ghost tale to his father (Om Prakash) with onomatopoeic sound effects like 'Waoo, wahoo, kudu, kach kach kach' leaves the audience in splits. Pyar Kiye Jaa fetched him his second Filmfare award. Other prominent roles of Mehmood include South Indian Music teacher in Padosan, Bus Conductor in Bombay to Goa, Hyderabadi butler in Gumnaam, Gujarati sheth in Vardaan, Kerala-based South character Pavitra Kumar Rai in ‘Do Phool’ who sings ‘Muthukudi Kawadi Hada..; the elderly old mother in Waris, ugly looking waiter in Main Sunder Hoon, and last but not the least his marvellous triple role doing mimicry of Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor and Randhir Kapoor in the film Humjoli.

Career & Achievements

Mehmood proved his mastery in tragedy in Kunwara Baap Applauded for his comedy Mehmood wanted to establish that he was a round actor and could do tragedy equally first-class as comedy. With this in mind, he produced and directed his career’s most ambitious film Kunwara Baap (1974) based on the sensitive social subject of the grave need for polio vaccination among growing children. The highlight of the film was that Mehmood introduced his disabled son Maqdoom Ali aka Macky Ali, who was in real life the victim of polio vaccination. During his heyday,y Mehmood never had time to look after his children and he paid a huge price as he failed to give polio vaccination to Maqdoom and he became disabled in both legs. To emphasise the importance of polio vaccination Mehmood made Kunwara Baap but interestingly mixed comedy in the first half and the second half he injected intense emotion that left the audience in tears. The school race scene where his disabled son is forced to run without clutches and Mehmood picks his son on his shoulders and runs for him is easily the best emotional scene of Indian cinema. The movie was a huge hit. The government of India made it Tax Free but incidentally, the movie did not fetch Mehmood any awards. However Raj Ka poorhad remarked – What I could not achieve in Mera Naam Joker, Mehmood did it in Kunwara Baap!