Madhubala
Madhubala was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films. She is regarded to have been one of the greatest and finest actresses in the history of Indian cinema. One of the country's highest-paid stars in the 1950s, Madhubala appeared in over 70 filmsranging from slapstick comedies to historical dramasin a two decade-long career. Long after her death, she remains a Bollywood icon, particularly noted for her beauty and unconventional screen persona. Media outlets often refer to her as "The Venus of Indian cinema".
Born and raised in Delhi, Madhubala relocated to Bombay with her family when she was 8 years old and shortly after began playing minor roles, starting with Basant. She progressed to leading roles in the late 1940s, and earned success with the dramas Neel Kamal and Amar, the horror film Mahal, and the romantic films Badal and Tarana. Following a brief setback, Madhubala found continued success with her roles in the comedies Mr. & Mrs. '55, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi and Half Ticket, the crime films Howrah Bridge and Kala Pani, and the musical Barsaat Ki Raat.
Madhubala's portrayal of Anarkali in the historical epic drama Mughal-e-Azam the highest-grossing film in India at the timeearned her widespread critical acclaim and her only nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress; her performance has since been described by critics as one of the finest in Indian cinematic history. She worked sporadically in film in the 1960s, making her final appearance in the drama Sharabi. Additionally, she produced three films under her production house Madhubala Private Ltd., which was co-founded by her in 1953.
Despite maintaining strong privacy, Madhubala earned significant media coverage for her charity work and personal life. In the early 1950s, she had a highly-publicised relationship with actor Dilip Kumar that ended amidst the Naya Daur court case. She married actor-singer Kishore Kumar in 1960. Throughout her adult life, Madhubala suffered from recurring bouts of breathlessness and hemoptysis caused by a ventricular septal defect, ultimately leading to her death at the age of 36, in 1969.
Early life
Madhubala was born as Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi in Delhi, British India, on 14 February 1933. She was the fifth of eleven children of Ataullah Khan and Aayesha Begum. At least four of Madhubala's siblings died as infants; her sisters who survived until adulthood were Kaneez Fatima, Altaf, Chanchal and Zahida. Khan, who belonged to the Yusufzai tribe of Pashtuns from Peshawar valley, originating from Swabi District, North-West Frontier Province was an employee at the Imperial Tobacco Company. Unknown to her family members, Madhubala was born with a ventricular septal defect, a congenital heart disorder which had no treatment at the time.Madhubala spent most of her childhood in Delhi and grew up without any kind of health issues. Owing to the orthodox ideas of their Muslim father, neither Madhubala nor any of her sisters except Zahida attended school. Madhubala nevertheless learnt Urdu, Hindi, as well as her native language, Pashto, under her father's guidance. An avid movie viewer since the beginning, she used to perform her favourite scenes in front of her mother and spend her time dancing and imitating film characters to entertain herself. In spite of her conservative upbringing, she aimed to become a film actorwhich her father strictly disapproved of.
In April 1944, Madhubala's family's rented home in Malad was completely destroyed during the Bombay Dock explosion. The family survived the disaster only because they had all left the house to visit a local cinema shortly before the blast occurred.
Khan's decision changed in 1940 after he got fired from his job for misbehaving with a senior officer. Madhubala's mother feared ostracism if they allowed their young daughter to work in the entertainment industry, but Khan remained adamant. Soon Madhubala was employed at the All India Radio station to sing compositions of Khurshid Anwar. The seven-year-old continued working there for months, and became acquainted with Rai Bahadur Chunnilal, the general manager of the studio Bombay Talkies, situated in Bombay. Chunnilal took an immediate liking towards Madhubala and suggested Khan to visit Bombay for better employment opportunities.
Acting career
Early work and switch to adult roles (1942–1947)
In the summer of 1941, Khan along with Madhubala and other family members relocated to Bombay and settled down in a cowshed present in the Malad suburbs of Bombay. Following an approval from the studio executives, Chunnilal signed Madhubala to a juvenile role in Bombay Talkies' production, Basant, at a salary of 150. Released in July 1942, Basant became a major success commercially, but although Madhubala's work garnered appreciation, the studio dropped her contract as it did not require a child actor at that time. Disappointed, Khan had to once again return his family to Delhi. He subsequently found low-paid temporary jobs in the city, but continued to struggle financially.In 1944, Bombay Talkies' head Devika Rani sent for Khan to summon Madhubala for role in Jwar Bhata. Madhubala did not get the role but Khan now decided to settle permanently in Bombay seeing a prospect in films. The family again returned to their temporary residence in Malad and Madhubala along with her father began paying frequent visits to film studios throughout the city in search of work. She was soon signed to a three-year contract with Chandulal Shah's studio Ranjit Movietone, on a monthly payment of 300. After shifting into father's friend's house with her family, Madhubala continued her film career, playing minor roles in five of Ranjit's films: Mumtaz Mahal, Dhanna Bhagat, Rajputani, Phoolwari and Pujari ; she was credited as "Baby Mumtaz" in all of them. Eager to establish a foothold in the industry, in November 1946, Madhubala began shooting for two of Mohan Sinha's directorial ventures, Chittor Vijay and Mere Bhagwaan, which were supposed to be her introduction to the silver-screen in adult roles.
Madhubala's first project in a lead role was Sohrab Modi's Daulat, but it was shelved indefinitely. Her debut as a leading lady came in Kidar Sharma's drama Neel Kamal, in which she starred opposite debutante Raj Kapoor and Begum Para. She was offered the film after Sharma's first choice, actress Kamla Chatterjee, died. Released in March 1947, Neel Kamal was popular with audience and garnered wide public recognition for Madhubala. She then reteamed with Kapoor in Chittor Vijay and Dil Ki Rani, both of which were released in 1947, and in Amar Prem, which came out the following year. These films were unsuccessful ventures that failed to propel her career ahead. During this period, she had to charge a relatively lesser amount than her usual fee to attract more offers. To secure her family financially, Madhubala quickly signed 24 films. Impressed by her work in Neel Kamal, in which Madhubala was credited as "Mumtaz", Devika Rani suggested her to take up "Madhubala" as her professional name.
Rise to prominence and superstardom (1948–1957)
Madhubala found her first critical and commercial success in the drama Lal Dupatta, which The Indian Express mentioned as a breakthrough for her. Baburao Patel described the film as "the first milestone of her maturity in screen acting". She received further positive reviews for her supporting parts in Parai Aag, Paras and Singaar. In 1949, Madhubala played a femme fatale in Kamal Amrohi's Mahalthe first horror film of Indian cinema. Several actresses including Suraiya were considered for the role but Amrohi insisted on casting Madhubala. Her character was that of Kamini, a servant girl in an ancient mansion, whose pretensions of an apparition lead to disastrous consequences. The film was produced on a modest budget due to financial constraints, with trade analysts predicting it to be a failure owing to its unconventional subject. Mahal was released in October 1949 and proved to be an immensely popular film among audience. In Beyond the Boundaries of Bollywood, Rachel Dwyer noted that Madhubala's ignorance among audience added to the mysterious nature of her character. The film, which would be Madhubala's first of many collaborations with actor and brother-in-law Ashok Kumar, emerged as the third biggest box-office success of the year, resulting in her signing a string of starring roles opposite the leading actors of the time.Following another box office hit in Dulari, Madhubala played Ajit's love interest in K. Amarnath's social drama Beqasoor. The feature received positive reviews and ranked among the year's top-grossing Bollywood productions. Also in 1950, she appeared in the comedy-drama Hanste Aansoo, which became the first Indian film to be awarded an Adult certification. The following year, Madhubala starred in the Amiya Chakravarty-directed action film Badal, a remake of The Adventures of Robin Hood. Her portrayal of a princess who ignorantly falls in love with Prem Nath's character received mixed reviews; a critic praised her looks but advised her to "learn to speak her dialogue slowly, distinctly and effectively instead of rattling through her lines in a monotone." She subsequently played the titular part in M. Sadiq's romance Saiyan, which Roger Yue of The Singapore Free Press commented was played "to perfection". Both Badal and Saiyan proved to be major box-office successes. Madhubala then collaborated with actor Dilip Kumar twice in a row, on the 1951 comedy Tarana and the 1952 drama Sangdil. These films also performed well financially, popularizing the on and offscreen couple among wide audience. Baburao Patel's filmindia review of Tarana read, "Incidentally, Madhubala gives the best performance of her screen career in this picture. She seems to have discovered her soul at last in Dilip Kumar's company."
Madhubala was cast in the costume drama Shahehshah before Kamini Kaushal replaced her. In April 1953, Madhubala founded a production company called Madhubala Private Ltd. The following year, while shooting in Madras for S. S. Vasan's Bahut Din Huwe, she suffered a major health setback due to her heart disease. She returned to Bombay after completing the film and took a short-term medical leave from work, which led to her replacement in Uran Khatola. Madhubala later starred in another film of 1954Mehboob Khan's Amar, portraying a social worker involved in a love triangle along with Dilip Kumar and Nimmi. Madhubala improvised a scene from the film. It was unsuccessful at the box-office. Nevertheless, Rachit Gupta of Filmfare stated that Madhubala overshadowed her co-stars and "floored her role with a nuanced performance". Writing for Rediff.com in 2002, Dinesh Raheja described Amar as "arguably Madhubala's first truly mature performance" and particularly praised a dramatic scene featuring her and Dilip. Madhubala's next release was her own production venture, Naata, in which she co-starred with her sister Chanchal. The film met with a tepid response and lost a lot of money, compelling Madhubala to sell her bungalow Kismet to recover the loss.
Madhubala made a comeback in 1955 with Guru Dutt's comedy Mr. & Mrs. '55, which emerged as one of the year's highest-grossing films in India and her biggest success at that point of time. The film saw her playing Anita Verma, a naive heiress who is forced by her aunt into a sham marriage with Dutt's character. Harneet Singh of The Indian Express called Mr. & Mrs. '55 "a great ride" and acknowledged Madhubala's "impish charm and breezy comic timing" as one of its prime assets. In mid-1956, a conflict broke out between Madhubala–Khan and director B. R. Chopra over the location shoot of Naya Daur, in which Madhubala was cast to play the female protagonist. Citing her as uncooperative and unprofessional, Chopra replaced Madhubala with Vyjayanthimala and further sued the former for 30,000 in damages. The lawsuit continued for about eight months amidst public scrutiny before Chopra withdrew it after Naya Daur got released.
Subsequently in the years 1956–57, Madhubala reduced her workload due to the lawsuit and health issues. She and Nargis were approached by Guru Dutt to play either of the two female leads in his production, Pyaasa. Unable to choose between the two leading roles, the actresses passed over the film to the newcomers Mala Sinha and Waheeda Rehman. Madhubala appeared in two period films in 1956, Raj Hath and Shirin Farhad, both critical and commercial successes. The following year, she portrayed a runaway heiress in Om Prakash's Gateway of India, which critic Deepa Gahlot believed to be one of the finest performances of her career. Madhubala then starred in the drama Ek Saal, which follows the love story of a terminally-ill ingenue.