Veteran actress Mumtaz has once again come under fire for her statements Sanjeev Kumarmaintaining his stance that while he was a great performer, he would not qualify as a “big star”. For those who don’t know, the actor once said that he doesn’t consider Sanjeev Kumar a big star. When asked about it again, the actor clarified his comment saying that there is a big difference between a good actor and a star.Mumtaz revised her earlier comment and stood firm during her chat with Vickey Lalwani. He said, “What did I say wrong? I don’t deny that he was a great actor. There is a world between being a star and being an actor. Dilip Kumar, Dev AnandShammi Kapoor-these were all stars. Sanjeev Kumar played character roles as well as supporting roles. He was a very good human being, very well-mannered, but there is a difference between a star and an actor.”Clarifying that his words were taken out of context, “You said he was a very big star, and I replied that he was not a big star. He was a good actor, but I consider people like Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and the main heroes as big stars.”Mumtaz also reflected on how, in her opinion, the label ‘star’ is often overused in the film industry. When the discussion changed Zeenat Amanstated, “Zeenat Aman, ok. Zeenat Aman was not a very good actress, sorry to say-I would say sorry too. How many awards did she get? If you call everyone a star, how will that work? Not everyone is a star.”Emphasizing how rare true stardom is, he said, “Everybody can’t be a star; everybody can’t be Dilip Kumar. It takes years to become a star, you lose your hair when you get there.”He concluded by naming the actors who he believes truly embody the stars, “Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Nargis, Rekha, these were the true stars among heroes.”
