Over the years, there have been various reports about how Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and yesteryear star Mehmood Ali shared a close bond. Mehmood is to date considered one of the most iconic comic actors to grace the silver screen. He has even played the lead in movies like Kunwara Baap and in those days, there were stories of how leading men of the 60s and 70s were insecure of having Mehmood in their films.
Mehmood was known to live life king-size. Mehmood Ali’s brother Anwar Ali stated in a 2015 interview with Filmfare, “He lived like a king both in terms of his lifestyle and his big-heartedness. He looked after the 150 members of our extended kutumb. He had a fleet of 24 vehicles at one time, including a Stingray, Dodge, Impala, MG, Jaguar, and others. He loved cars.
Apart from creating a legacy for himself, Mehmood is also known to have been instrumental in Amitabh Bachchan gaining a foothold in the industry. Mehmood gave Amitabh Bachchan a platform to showcase his talent through the film Bombay to Goa, which was instrumental in getting Big B noticed by other filmmakers in the industry, most notably by Salim-Javed for Zanjeer. Mehmood also helped out Amitabh in enacting his scene in Bombay to Goa when he felt underconfident.
Amitabh and Mehmood continued to share a good bond but there was one instance where Amitabh’s actions left Mehmood shocked and heartbroken. In an interview, Mehmood called himself Amitabh’s second father who taught him to make money, gave his career advice and offered him a place to stay. He acknowledged that Amitabh had great respect for him but he was left shocked in one instance.
Mehmood said that he had visited Amitabh’s house when his father Harvansh Rai Bachchan fell ill. However, when Mehmood himself had bypass surgery, in spite of visiting Breach Candy Hospital with his father at the same time, he did not come to see him. He did not even meet him or wish him although he knew Mehmood was admitted to the same hospital. “Amitabh proved that a fake father is after all fake. However, I forgave him”.
Mehmood passed away on July 23, 2004. Amitabh paid tribute to him by saying that Mehmood had helped him secure a stable career graph in his career.
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