Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; May 6, 2019)

In a year, there have been two death hoaxes about yesteryear star, Mumtaz. Her nephew Shaad Randhawa, her daughter Tanya Madhvani and filmmaker Milap Zaveri had to issue clarifications about her being alive and healthy. The actress, pretty much sounding like a live-wire from London, told BT that she’s healthy and happy, leading a peaceful life away from the spotlight. Over to Mumtaz, who spoke to us about the trouble she faced owing to the hoax about her demise, the kind of love she gets from her family and friends and what will make her come back to the limelight.

It’s such a pleasure to connect with you, alive and kicking…
(Laughs) Yeah, sure it is. I am still alive, not dead yet. So, it’s not a ghost answering the phone. It’s me, Mumtaz. I’m surprised you don’t sound shocked like some others, who tried calling me and put the phone down when they heard my voice on the other side. It’s so strange that on the one hand, in India, people call me a legend and on the other, they are almost desperate for me to die.

Well, we don’t think that’s true, it was more like misinformation…
I am sure that’s not how it is, but what is with people spreading rumours about my death, and that too, twice in one year. They do this repeatedly and so, I don’t know what they really want. I am told a journalist did this, but shouldn’t that person be a little more cautious with his words? Agli baar agar sach hoga, then no one will believe it. Sher aaya, sher aaya wali misaal ho jayegi.

What really happened on Friday night when the hoax of your demise spread across social media?
Oh my god! Don’t remind me. I was getting calls throughout the night from different quarters of the world. I had to make so many calls to my relatives, my husband, daughter and sister to tell them that ‘Hey, don’t believe anything, I am alive.’ Can you imagine doing this? I had to do it. My daughter Natasha is here with her kids. You should ask her what a nuisance this was. I got calls from unknown numbers and people just disconnected the line the moment they heard my voice. Ab pooch to nahi sakte ki Mumtaz aap zinda hain kya. Several of my fraternity members and their families called me because they were concerned. This went on till the wee hours. I was just laughing at the situation at times, ki yeh kya ho raha hai.

A similar situation had happened last year, too…
Natasha had nearly fainted when she heard it. She called me and she was so relieved to talk to me. I was with Tanya in Rome. Natasha said, ‘Mamma, mere toh pair ke neeche se zameen khisak gayi’. These hoaxes and unconfirmed news pieces about people dying are dangerous.

Your family must be so relieved that the news was just a hoax…
Yes, all of them were relieved. I am so blessed that I have such a beautiful family that loves me to bits. My husband, children, sons-in-law and my grandkids fill my life with so much happiness. I have everything I could have ever asked for. Aur kya maangu uparwale se? Bade bol nahi bolungi lekin, kabhi kabhi thak jaati hoon sab kuch sambhalte sambhalte. A friend of mine once asked me, what I ask for in my prayers. I said, ‘Nothing’. He’s given me more than what I wanted. Aap hi sochiye, I have a husband who calls me 10 times a day to ask about my well-being. The number is even more when I’m under the weather. He looks after me like one would look after an orchid; it’s very difficult to maintain it (laughs!).

Do you miss the life you led in the spotlight as a reigning movie star?
Shall I tell you one thing? I don’t miss the attention because I continue to get it; it’s just a little different in nature. There are very few people in the world who get the kind of love and respect I get from everyone — my peers, industry youngsters, my family, friends and well-wishers. Aise mein insaan kya miss karega? When I’m in Mumbai, I meet my colleagues and we have such amazing conversations. The younger actors like Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan greet me with so much of love and respect. Dil kuch nahi chahta uske baad. Life is beautiful and I lead a happy, stress-free life. I just pray that the day I go from this world, I go in peace and in my sleep.

Would you consider returning to the big screen?
I don’t feel the need to do that. What is the point of working right now? I will soon turn 72. I don’t have that kind of stamina to run around because films are shot 24x7. I’ll have to report at work at whatever time I’m required. That is the discipline of this business that I haven’t forgotten. I will come back to work only if I ever have a shortage of money, because acting is the only job that I know. I will not hesitate to ask for work even if I am 100 years old, and I know our industry, they will happily give me work. It’s also the industry’s badappan that they don’t usually forget their seniors. People talk in such a negative way about the industry giving its own kids a chance sooner than they give an outsider. Par kyun nahi? Which other industry in the world does this for its own people? Natasha’s daughter Diani is six years old and is a good dancer. If she wants to become an actress in the future, I know that I can make one phone call for her to get her first break. After that, she has to have the guts to survive in the industry and find her way around. You have to be talented and ready to work hard and long hours. You will flop if you don’t give your best to your work. You can’t blame the industry for it; it’s your own failure.

Upala KBR (DNA; May 1, 2017)

Fardeen Khan and his wife Natasha are expecting their second child. The star couple is currently based out of London. Fardeen is back in Mumbai on some work assignments, while Natasha will return to the city with their children after the baby is born in July.

Says the ecstatic dad-to-be, “I am on top of the moon. Natasha is five months pregnant and isn’t travelling with me this time around as it’s so hot in Mumbai and soon, the monsoons will be upon us. She will come after that. I visit India every three or four weeks and spend half that time in Mumbai.”

Sharing his experience of being a father to little Diani, his firstborn, Fardeen says, “To be honest, it’s the most profound chapter of my life and she has brought life full circle. You value everything that is truly important in your life. You are born to your parents. They bring you up and you love and value them. Then you have your own children, you realise what your parents went through, bringing you up and then you try and teach your daughter everything about life just the way your parents taught you.”

Fardeen says becoming a father is the greatest responsibility in life and adds, “If you are not ready for the responsibility, don’t bring life into this world. It is a big, big responsibility to bring life into this world. It’s not a whim or fancy and you have to be truly prepared for it. You have to make sure in whatever capacity you can, you give your child the best opportunities that you can. And more than anything, all they want is your love so you have to give them your time and love. Everything else is secondary.”

Fardeen and Natasha are naturally thrilled about their second baby. “Natasha and I have had our share of challenges and that’s why we have been parked in London and travel back and forth. We are over the moon. It completes our family. We have always wanted at least two children so it completes our family and we are extremely happy! We are happy as a couple, we are happy as a unit and even my little daughter Diani is looking forward to having a sibling. She’s right now in London but the minute we have our second child, we have to come back for Diani’s school year so she will be starting school in Mumbai from June next year. It’s home! Aamchi Mumbai! Living there has just been a temporary thing. We were here more to have our children as we had some medical challenges as a couple. Hopefully, everything will go well, and Diani will be in a Mumbai school by June next year. We have already started applying there. We are just going to be here till she completes her school year in London. The last three years I took a call to be a full-time parent but now I am beginning to miss the movies. I am missing work and I need to get back!”

Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 24, 2014)

Fardeen Khan vanished from the scene four years ago. Since then hushed whispers have been doing the rounds that the former heartthrob had let himself go and piled on several unwanted kilos. But yesterday at his Juhu bungalow, Fardeen looked lean, fit and agile. Over cups of green tea, the actor spoke about the realisation that dawned on him to get back into shape and the regime which had helped him lose 14 kilos in the last four months. “I wanted to get back to work. I wasn’t happy with the way I looked. My wife Natasha and I had undergone a lot during her pregnancy. Two months before our daughter Diani Isabella was born, I decided that I needed to do something about myself. An actor’s job demands that he should look good. I had neglected myself for too long,” he said.

Fardeen admitted that he had stopped exercising after his father Feroz Khan fell ill and passed away in 2009.

But four months ago, in London, where he has been staying for the past two-and-a-half years, he joined Nick Mitchell’s UP Fitness and started working out with trainer Shaun Murphy.

The exercise regime started on a four-day per week schedule. “Slowly, I started exercising six days in a week. The idea was to gain lean body mass and burn body fat at the same time,” Fardeen explained.

Naturally, the workout was accompanied by a restricted diet which included five small dairy-free, low-carb meals in a day.

And how did he balance fatherhood with this regime? “You need to be ready for parenthood; you need to want it enough. Natasha and I had wanted a baby for a long time. Oh, I am loving fatherhood,” said Fardeen.

He gets back to face the camera for Anees Bazmee's No Entry Mein Entry, produced by Boney Kapoor, in January 2015. He will soon announce two films, which he plans to produce under the FK banner and his father’s dream to remake Qurbani too is also in the pipeline.

“I have been shuttling between London and Mumbai but now I am pretty much here to stay. Natasha and my daughter are planning to return to Mumbai next month. A party is in the offing,” he concluded.

Hiren Kotwani (BOMBAY TIMES; April 6, 2014)

Fardeen Khan is returning to the spotlight with an endorsement deal for Provogue. After Dulha Mil Gaya (2010), he had taken a break from Bollywood to venture into the real estate business. The actor, who has lost considerable weight and is working hard to lose some more, says, “It started last December with the birth of our baby, whom we’ve named Diani Isabella. I am now getting back to work.” Over to Fardeen...

Having been associated with Provogue for a long time, what excited you to team up with them again?
I was their ambassador from 2001 to 2006 and we had a great run together. We were both in the infancy of our respective careers, and we grew together as people, as a company. The brand’s team and I kept in touch, and when we met last year, they saw me looking different. I had lost most of the weight I had put on. They were looking for an ambassador and I think this was destined, a cosmic connection of sorts. After the baby, I’m keen to get back and this is a great way to kickstart my return.

What’s your take on deodorants being the focus of the new campaign?
I think it’s a great move. Personal hygiene is a high-growth market. The way you smell and the way you groom yourself is a reflection of your personal hygiene. Our reunion after eight years makes it challenging, to not just recreate past success, but also to take it to another level. People’s tastes have changed, especially in fashion. To sell personal care, hygiene products, you’ve got to communicate differently.

What do you attribute the strong connect between the brand and you to?
I can’t put a finger on it specifically. Generally speaking, our campaigns were bold, adventurous, edgy and in your face and at the same time, we didn’t try too hard. The image we tried to achieve back then was of a personal sense of confidence that said, ‘This is how I am, I don’t need to accessorise’. Though very basic and simple, it had a certain attitude. People associated with that strongly. While we’re back to the basic intention, we’re carrying it forward in a different way this time.

Will you also be representing fashion for Provogue as before?
Yes, of course. Though we’re starting with the personal care products, taking the summer into account, our next campaign will focus on fashion just like it did during our first years together. So, we’ll have an interesting range coming up later, after the personal hygiene products range.

What are your future plans in movies?
My first step is with Provogue. Movies, obviously, is the next logical step. I’m working on a couple of scripts since the past year-and-a-half. I know what I want to do in terms of content. We’ll start production for sure. While I want to direct, I’ll venture into it only when I really feel I want to direct. Till then, my concentration is on acting and on producing a film based on the material I’m working on. As for No Entry Mein Entry, the screenplay is hysterical. Anees (director Anees Bazmee) has cracked it, no mean feat when the first part has been so successful. Everything is multiplied in this — the jokes, gags, fun. He has succeeded in keeping the spirit of the film intact. It’s going on the floors later this year, and I’m looking forward to it.

Fardeen Khan and wife Natasha welcome their first child, a daughter whom they plan to bring up in Mumbai 
Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 13, 2013)

Diani Isabella Khan entered the world on December 11 at 5.33 pm in a London hospital. And papa Fardeen Khan hasn’t stopped smiling since. Speaking to Mirror from London, Fardeen, who was present during the delivery, describes it as an “awesome, lifechanging experience”.

The 39-year-old actor admits that he was overwhelmed when he first laid eyes on his daughter, also the grandchild of film icons Firoz Khan and Mumtaz. “It stuns you, shocks you. Your eyes fill up and so does your heart, with pure love and joy,” he says, relieved that both his wife Natasha (Mumtaz’s daughter) and their baby are healthy. “Since she’s just a day old, it’s hard to say yet who she looks like. What’s important is that she has all her toes and fingers, and her brain is intact.”

Natasha, the actor’s wife of eight years, has been in London for the last two years and Fardeen has been shuttling between the British capital and Mumbai.“Natasha has been through the worst to have our baby and today she deserves all the happiness in the world,” he says emotionally.

So which city will Diani call home? “Once she’s done with her vaccinations and it’s safe to travel with her, we’ll bring her to Mumbai which is her home. She will be brought up here," he says.

For now, the entire family is in London to be with the happy threesome. “My mother is here and so are Natasha’s parents (Mayur Madhwani and Mumtaz). I think it’s as special for them as it is for us. I wish my father (Feroz Khan) had been here too. He is greatly missed but I know that whatever joy comes into my life is because of his blessings. I’m a part of him and my daughter is a part of me. I’m gearing up for the life-long responsibility of bringing her up well,” he adds.

The mother and baby will be back home by the weekend and everything’s in place, from a nursery with shades of pink, matching furniture and a wardrobe of little dresses.“We were aware that we were going to have a daughter which is how we had the name ready. Diani is Portuguese for Divinity and Isabella is a name I have always loved. My daughter will always be Isabella for me. As for her, we’ve given her two names, she can choose what she wants,” he says.

And what’s happening on the career front? “I’ve commissioned two scripts, the films should start next year. I will be acting in one of my productions,” he says. “But before that No Entry 2 should kickstart in June,” he signs off.