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The Venus Queen- Madhubala, was born on 14th February 1933, in Delhi, British India. She belonged to a poor Pathan Muslim family, and her real name was Begum Mumtaz Jehan Dehlavi. Her father, Ataullah Khan, shifted to Bombay with his family after losing his job in Peshawar. To sort out her family’s financial crises, she frequently visited the Bombay studios for work and made her debut with the movie Basant when she was nine years old.
She was loved for her work as a child artist, and the movie broke all box-office records of that year. She then did a couple of movies like Dhanna Bhagat, Phoolwari, Rajputana as a child artist, Baby Mumtaz. In 1947, then 14 years old Mumtaz got her first lead role in the movie Neel kamal and was cast opposite to Raj Kapoor.
Major Works of Madhubala
She got recognition in the Hindi film industry for her beauty and performance from the movie ‘Neel Kamal,’ after which Actress Devika Rani advised her to use ‘Madhubala’ as her stage name. She did her next film, ‘Har Singaar,’ in 1949 with her screen name ‘Madhubala’ and worked with Dilip Kumar. However, they had earlier met on the sets of ‘Jwar Bhata,’ in 1944 when she was 11 years old. The 1949 released movie in which she worked with Ashoke Kumar was ‘Bombay Talkies’ produced film ‘Mahal’ that made her a superstar and took her fan base to another level. This thriller hit movie that was one of the highest grossed movies of that year made her a superstar. After the success of the ‘Mahal,’ she had a tremendous career growth, giving consecutive hits of that time.
International Recognition
Her popularity increased to the extent of attaining international recognition. She appeared in renowned magazines like Life and Theatre Arts, in which she was titled as the biggest star in the world. Though her stardom speculated increasing her fan base like never before, she and her family were less interested in the social gatherings and massive functions. Once, Frank Capra, a famous award-winning American director, offered her a chance in Hollywood, which she had to reject due to her conservative father, who did not approve this offer.
Evergreen Memories
Though her Hollywood career ended with that, her Hindi cinema career was overgrowing as most of her films were on the top list of some of the highest grossed movies of that year. Her movies were appreciated for her performance and the songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Geetha Dutt.
The songs “Aaega Aanewala” from Mahal, “Jaane Kaha Mera Jigar Gaya Jee,” “Aaiye Meherebaan,” “Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu” and many others were biggest hits of that time and have remained in people’s heart for generations. Madhubala amplified the beauty of these songs with her charm and grace and made them perennials. Her career’s biggest hit was the 1960 released movie ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ in which she was cast with Dilip Kumar as the lead pair. This movie changed her life to a great extend, impacting her for both good and bad reasons. She was recognised for showcasing her excellent craft as Anarkali and was nominated in the Filmfare for Best Performace. Then she did a couple of movies with Kishore Kumar, her future husband. These movies were not as big hits and were also notorious for Madhubala’s deteriorating performance due to her ill health.
Love Life of Madhubala
This beautiful star’s love life was not as smooth where she first fell in love with Latif, her childhood friend, and this love story ended as she left to Bombay. The next time she was in a long relationship was with Dilip Kumar. In the1951 movie ‘Tarana,’ they performed as the main lead pairs for the first time. After this movie, they did several hit films together and became one of the best on-screen pairs. During this period, Madhubala proposed him, and they stayed in a relationship for a long time, and she was hurt when he later married Saira Banu.
However, in 1960, she accepted Kishore Kumar’s proposal and married him when she was 27. Madhubala had congenital heart disease, which is the condition of a hole in the heart. Kishore Kumar left her in her father’s home as he could not take proper care of her due to his tight schedule. Despite, Kishore baring all her medical expenses, staying away from her husband made her feel left alone. Her health worsened, and she died on 23rd February 1969. She was an exceptional performer with unmatchable beauty and charm, who achieved such a huge name and fame in a brief life span of 36.
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