Madhubala Age

Madhubala was born on February 14, 1933 as Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi, the fifth of eleven children in Delhi, British Raj. Her parents were Ataullah Khan and Aayesha Begum.

She had ten siblings out of whom only four survived to adulthood.

Madhubala Family

Her father, Attaullah Khan Pashtun from the old Peshawar valley, which includes the present-day regions of Mardan and Swabi which are now in Pakistan.

Her father belonged to the Yusufzai tribe of the Pashtuns. He relocated the family to Delhi and then Bombay after he lost his job at the Imperial Tobacco Company in Peshawar.

The family endured many hardships. Madhubala’s three sisters and two brothers died at the ages of five and six. The dock explosion and fire of 14 April 1944 wiped out their small home.

The family survived only because they had gone to see a film at a local theater

Madhubala Images

Image of Madhubala
                     Image of Madhubala

Madhubala Biography

With his six remaining daughters to provide for, Khan, and the young Madhubala began to pay frequent visits to Bombay film studios to look for work.

At the age of 9, this was Madhubala’s introduction to the movie industry, which would provide financial help to her family. At home, Madhubala was nicknamed Majhlee Aapa as she was the fifth child of her parents.

Madhubala spoke Urdu and Hindi at home. She couldn’t speak a word of English but yearned to learn the language. She learned driving at the age of twelve and liked to drive long sometimes.

Madhubala Actress

A nine year old Madhubala, then a child artist often tottered around various studios of Bombay in search of work and made several friends there.

Her first movie Basant (1942), was a box office success. She acted as the daughter to the character played by actress Mumtaz Shanti and was credited as Baby Mumtaz in the film.

Basant became the highest-grossing Indian film of that’s year.

Her performance impressed Actress Devika Rani.  She advised her to assume the screen name “Madhubala”, literally meaning “honey belle”.

Her first lead role, at the age of 14, was with producer Kidar Sharma when he cast her opposite Raj Kapoor in Neel Kamal (1947).

She achieved stardom and popularity in 1949 when Bombay Talkies cast her as the lead in Mahal – a role intended for well-known star Suraiya.

Madhubala, with established actresses, screen-tested for the role. The Film’s director Kamal Amrohi selected her for the movie. The film was the third largest hit at the 1949 Indian box office.

Madhubala Movie

She acted in as many as 70 films from 1947 to 1964, but only 15 were box office successes. Many senior actors praised her acting skills.

People even compared her with the Hollywood actress and sex symbol Marilyn Monroe with whom she had some passing similarities. People also referred her as “Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood”.

In 1960, She was at the peak of her career and popularity with the release of Mughal-e-Azam and Barsaat Ki Raat. She did have intermittent releases in the early 1960s.

Some of these, such as Jhumroo (1961), Half Ticket (1962) and Sharabi (1964), performed above average at the box office.

Madhubala Husband

Madhubala met Kishore Kumar during the shooting of Dhake Ki Malmal (1956). In 1960, she married him when she was 27 years old.

When Madhubala was ill in the late 1950s with the congenital heart disease, Kishore Kumar proposed to her. She decided to marry him after realizing that Dilip Kumar was not going to marry her.

Kishore Kumar’s family never accepted her in their family because Kishore Kumar married her as per his own wish.

Madhubala’s illness was known to Kishore, but like all the others, he did not realize its gravity; Ataullah Khan did not approve of his son-in-law at all, but he had lost the courage to disapprove

Madhubala Last Days

Madhubala had a ventricular septal defect (a hole in her heart). Doctor detected her condition while she was shooting for Bahut Din Huwe in Madras in 1954.

By 1960, her condition had aggravated. Every four to five hours she had to be given oxygen or else would get breathless. Her medical condition confined her to bed for nine years and reduced her to just bones and skin.

In 1966, with a slight improvement in her health, she made a valiant attempt to complete her work in Chalak opposite Raj Kapoor, which needed only a short spell of shooting, but she could not even survive that strain.

Madhubala Death

she died on 23 February 1969, shortly after her 36th birthday. The cause of death was determined to be the prolonged lung and heart illness.

Her family buried Madhubala at Juhu Muslim Cemetery in Santacruz, Mumbai. Her family built her tomb with marbles and inscriptions include aayats from Qur’an and verse dedications

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