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Mehood is no more and his last public appearance was a surprised appearance in Jeena Isi Ka Naam when Farookh Shaikh interviewed Johny Levers. He came on a wheel chair and had a urine bag (catherer) as well as oxygen cylinder attached to him!
But that was Mehmood, willing to do anything for a friend and of course 15 more minutes of fame!
During his last days he was `writing his autobiography` by talking into a video camera.
The son of stage and film actor-cum-dancer Mumtaaz Ali, Mehmood tried his luck with a lot of odd- jobs like selling newspapers and running a poultry farm. One such job was to teach Meena Kumari table tennis. He married her sister and after the birth of his son Masud, he seriously thought about exploiting his talent for being funny. He began as an assistant director and did small roles in several films.
He was so sensitive that he turned down his sister-in-law's help. When film-maker B.R.Chopra told him that he had created a role for him in the film 'Ek Hi Rasta' because he was the heroine Meena Kumari's brother. Mehmood became so furious that he walked out of the film at that very moment. With films like `Parvarish`('58) and `Chhoti Bahen` ('59) coming his way, he got a firm foothold in the film industry. His pairing with Shobha Khote became so popular that they did several successful films like - 'Sasural', 'Hamrah'i , 'Ziddi', 'Love In Tokyo' together.
For his films, he spoke in strange lingos to make people laugh.He made sounds like 'wua wua', 'kudu kudu', 'kach kach kach', etc. But somehow his personality and popularity went against him. Heroes, scared of being overshadowed, refused to work with him. This resulted in the comedian producing films for himself. He was not so successful when he tried to blend melodrama with comedy like in - 'Mastaana', 'Kunwara Baap', 'Ginny Aur Johnny'. So dependant on the audience reaction Mehmood suffered when he was unable to induce laughter. He took refuge in sleep-inducing Calmpose tablets, swallowing even 40 to 50 in a day.
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