Actors - Madhubala

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	Actors - Madhubala

Madhubala (February 14, 1933 - February 23, 1969) is considered one of most beautiful actresses to have graced the screens of Bollywood.

Early Life

Madhubala was born as Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi in Delhi as the 5th child into a poor, conservative Pathan Muslim family of 11 children. A Muslim Holy Man predicted that the young Mumtaz would earn fame and fortune but would lead an unhappy life and die at a young age. Madhubala, with literal meaning of her name being damsel of honey has continued to be considered with utmost admiration, with multiple generation of Hindi movie goers even today. Her father, Ataullah Khan was a coachman in Dehli, who migrated to Bombay remembering the holy man's words and also in search for a better livelihood. They struggled for over a year and Mumtaz entered Bollywood as a child-artist under the name Baby Mumtaz.

Film Career

Her first film was Basant (1942). Devika Rani was impressed by her performance and changed her name to Madhubala who was to appear in Jwar Bhata (1944) in which Dilip Kumar was playing the lead role. She was unable to work in the film, but this was when Madhubala first set eyes on Dilip Kumar. Mohan Sinha, a Producer-Director taught her to drive at the age of twelve. Her big break came when Kidar Sharma gave her a change to act opposite Raj Kapoor in Neel Kamal (1947). Madhubala had finally arrived on the Indian screen. Over the next two years she had blossomed into a truly rapturous beauty. In 1949, Madhubala starred in Bombay Talkies production Mahal. The film became a super hit. The song Aayega Aanewaala made the careers of Madhubala as well as the playback singer Lata Mangeshkar.

Madhubala's heart problem was discovered in a routine check-up in 1950 when heart surgery was not available. She had to put on a brave face and her illness was kept a secret from the industry for many years. She frequently used to cough up blood on the sets. Many other hits followed Mahal with a spate of films opposite the leading men of the day- Ashok Kumar, Rehman, Dilip Kumar, and Dev Anand, but by the mid-1950s, some of her films flopped. But she silenced her critics in 1958, when four of her films turned out to be superhits - Phagun opposite Bharat Bhushan, Howrah Bridge opposite Ashok Kumar, Kala Pani opposite Dev Anand and Chalti ka Naam Gaadi opposite her husband to be, Kishore Kumar.

In 1960, it was Mughal-e-Azam that marked one of her greatest performances as the doomed courtesan Anarkali. Sadly, being plagued with a persistent heart disease, she was confined to bed for the last nine years of her life. She did have the odd release in this period like Passport (1961), Jhumroo (1961), Boy Friend (1961), Half Ticket (1962) and Sharabi (1964), but they were mostly old films that managed to limp towards release. In fact, Jwala, was released in 1971, two years after her death. She tried making a comeback opposite Raj Kapoor in Chalack (1964), but she collapsed on the first day of shooting and the film was shelved. Her illness eventually claimed her life in 1969, after she suffered from a hole in her heart. She was buried with her diary at Santacruz Burial Ground by her family and Kishore Kumar. In this short life, she made over 70 films, and to this day remains one of the most enduring legends of Indian cinema.

Personal life

Madhubala and Dilip Kumar met seven years later, since their first meeting on the sets of Jwar Bhatta (1944). This time they met on the sets of their film Tarana (1951) when she was eighteen years old and he twenty-nine years old. During the shooting, she sent her hairdresser with a note written in Urdu and a red rose asking him to accept it if he loved her, which intrigued and amused Dilip Kumar and naturally he accepted the rose.

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