Mumtaz slams Zeenat Aman for endorsing live-in: ‘She should be the last person doling out relationship advice'
Mumtaz said Zeenat Aman shouldn't give advice counter to our moral values just to “sound like a cool aunty" and “increase her following.”
Mumtaz has responded to fellow veteran actor Zeenat Aman's controversial advice that people should try live-in relationships together before getting married. In an interview with Zoom, Mumtaz claimed that Zeenat should be the last person to dole out relationship advice, given her own rocky marriage. The two actors starred together in Dev Anand's 1971 film Hare Rama Hare Krishna. (Also Read – Zeenat Aman strongly recommends fans to opt for live-in relationship before marriage: ‘Same advice I gave to my sons’)
What Mumtaz said
“Zeenat should be careful with what she is advising. She has all of a sudden come into this huge social media popularity, and I can understand her excitement about sounding like a cool aunty. But giving advice that is counter to our moral values is not the solution to increasing your following,” said Mumtaz.
“Aap Zeenat ko hi le lo misaal ke taur par (Take Zeenat for example)… She knew Mazhar Khan for years before marrying him. Her marriage was a living hell. She should be the last person doling out advice on relationships,” added Mumtaz.
Zeenat married Mazhar in 1985. He died in 1998. She has two sons from that marriage. On the popular chat show Rendezvous with Simi Garewal in 1999, Zeenat had said, “During the very first year of marriage I realised I had made a huge mistake, but I decided to live by it and make it work. I tried to make it work for another 12 years. There was no light at the end of the tunnel for me. There was not a single moment of happiness or joy during those 12 years. But I still tried making it work.”
What Zeenat had said
In an Instagram post last week, Zeenat described a live-in relationship as the "ultimate test".
“One of you asked me about relationship advice in the comments section of my last post. Here’s a personal opinion I haven’t previously shared - if you’re in a relationship, I strongly recommend that you LIVE TOGETHER before getting married,” she wrote.
"This is the same advice I’ve always given my sons, both of whom have had, or are in, a live-in relationship. It just seems logical to me that before two people get their families and the government involved in their equation, they first put their relationship to the ultimate test," she added.
The actor said couples must figure out if they will be able to work through "million tiny conflicts" that will arise. Her post stated, "It’s easy to be the best version of yourself for a few hours a day. But can you share a bathroom? Weather the storm of a bad mood? Agree on what to eat for dinner every night? Keep the fire alive in the bedroom? Work through the million tiny conflicts that inevitably arise between two people in close proximity?"
"In short - are you actually compatible? I’m aware that Indian society is a little uptight about 'living in sin' but then again, society is uptight about so many things! Log kya kahenge? (What will people say?)," she added in the post.
Zeenat will return to screen after five years with Manish Malhotra's production Bun Tikki. She'll also be seen in Margao Files.