In the words of Khatija Akbar, a
writer who has written ‘I Want To Live –
The Story of Madhubala’, ‘The very mention of Madhubala (born on St. Valentine’s
Day, 14th February, 1933) conjures up a vivid image of a love
Goddess possessing bewitching beauty, dazzling radiance, subtle sensuality, and
above all, a tantalizing screen presence’.
Born in a Muslim family,
Madhubala was called Mumtaz Jahan Begum Dehlavi as she was born in New Delhi.
Her ancestral family belonged to Afghanistan, who were, members of the Nawabi
family of Kabul, branch of the royal dynasty of the Mohammadzay (called also Barakzay).
Her grandparents were exiled by Afghanistan's army to India. Her father was
Ataullah Khan, a very dominating father. When he lost his job in Peshawar, he
re-located to Mumbai.
Madhubala was his 5th
daughter. She entered the Indian Film Industry at the age of 14. Her active
years were in 1942-1969. She was traced by Devika Rani and soon rose to
stardom. She acted with the most popular actors of her time like Dev Anand, Raj
Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Guru Dutt to give the biggest hits as
Mughal-e-Azam(1960), Neel Kamal(1947), Chalti Ka Naam Gadi(1958), Mr. &
Mrs. 55, Kala Pani(1958), Pujari, Howrah Bridge (1958), Phagun (1958) to name a
few.
Her personal life was tragic yet
full of love. She was truly in love with Dilip Kumar but due to her heart
ailment and awe of her father, she had to marry a talented actor, director,
singer, comedian named Kishore Kumar. She was intelligent and appeared in the
American magazine named ‘Theatre Arts’. Frank Capra, the American Filmaker was
anxious to cast her in his film but this Indian beauty belonged to Bollywood.
She died at a very young age of
36 years due to a hole in her heart. But the legend lives on.