Mithyl Banymandhub
Down Memory Lane
In the early sixties a young singer, Subir Sen, visited Mauritius. He was accompanied by a troupe of talented musicians among whom were Enoch Daniels, who played the accordion, and Van Shipley, a renowned guitarist.
Subir Sen’s repertoire comprised a song Dekho Na Jao Aye Jaan-e-man/ Dil Na Dukhao Aye Janeman from Naresh Saighal’s Boyfriend, a black and white movie, in which Shammi Kapoor acts opposite Madhubala. This song motivated me to watch the film and I was struck by the beauty of Madhubala. By that time her acting career had reached its end but time has not erased the sequence in which Shammi Kapoor requests the soft wind not to disturb his beloved’s sleep – Dhire chal, dhire chal ai bheegi hawa … from my subconscious. Madhubala is shown sleeping as Shammi Kapoor moves around singing. 
It had come to my notice earlier that Madhubala had acted opposite Dilip Kumar in K. Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam but I was too young to understand the implications of the movie. However, as we had the LP at home, I avidly listened to the music and songs at regular intervals.
With the passage of time, I have watched her in a variety of roles. Though she valued her privacy and did not give interviews to film magazines, I have been able to glean some information about her from past issues of Filmfare and Movie Times. I also read her biography Madhubala Her life Her Films (1997) by Khatija Akbar. I was thus able to capture the essence of this beautiful and talented actress who died young. The history of the Indian cinema would be incomplete if no mention is made of her and some films in which she gave a vivid portrayal of the characters she enacted.
Migration to Bombay
Mumtaz Jehan Dehlavi was born on February 14, 1933- St. Valentines Day- in Delhi to a Pathan family. Her father, Ataullah Khan belonged to “the old school of harsh disciplinarians”. Her mother was a simple woman who kept to the home. 
A time came during her childhood when her family went through hard times. When Ataullah Khan found it trying to meet the basic needs of his large and growing family, it occurred to him that his third daughter, the pretty, bright little Mumtaz, could support them all if he could find work for her in the film industry. Hence, he moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) with his family.
Thanks to Devika Rani and Rai Bahadur Chunilal’s Bombay Talkies, the eight-year-old Mumtaz faced the camera with a role in the “phenomenal” hit Basant (1942) directed by none other than Amiya Chakravarthy. From then on, she remained the sole earning member of the family. Basant starred Ulhas and Mumtaz Shanti in the lead roles. Baby Mumtaz played the role of their daughter who is instrumental in reuniting the estranged parents.
In the aftermath of Basant, Baby Mumtaz worked at Ranjit Studios where she enacted the roles of little girls. The family lived at Malad, a suburb of Mumbai, though the pecuniary problems were still prevalent.
Her first film for Ranjit Moviestone was Mumtaz Mahal, with Chandramohan and Khursheed. It was directed by Kidar Sharma and was released in 1944. He was impressed by her talent since the first day and later said, “There was a lustre in her eyes which expressed the great depths of her soul. Her diligence, discipline and ardour for work…. were her notable qualities even as a child star”. After Basant and Mumtaz Mahal, Baby Mumtaz acted in Kidar Sharma’s Dhanna Bhagat (1944), Chaturbhuj Doshi’s Phoolwari, Aspi’s Pujari and Rajputna (all in 1946). She soon made the transition from child star to heroine with Neel Kamal. 
From Baby Mumtaz to Madhubala
In 1947, Kidar Sharma, poet, writer, producer and director, was on the roster at Ranjit Moviestone. He announced his new venture Bichara Bhagwan with his wife Kamla Chatterjee and Jairaj in the lead roles. Unfortunately, Kamla died. After a period of deep mourning, Kidar Sharma decided to go ahead with the film. He opted for a new lead pair. His hero would be the young son of Prithviraj Kapoor, who was working in Ranjit Moviestone as a clapper boy and their own Baby Mumtaz. The film was retitled Neel Kamal and it gave Mumtaz and Raj Kapoor their first roles. She was only fourteen years old in comparison to Raj Kapoor who was twenty-two.
Incidentally, three more films with Raj Kapoor followed Neel Kamal in quick succession. Mohan Sinha’s Chittor Vijay, and Dil Ki Rani and N. M. Kelkar’s Amar Prem. She was still Mumtaz in Neel Kamal but by 1948 her named changed to Madhubala. The credit for “giving one of the loveliest screen names goes, it is said, to Devika Rani”.
Natural Flair for Acting
Between Neel kamal and the release of Mahal were a dozen films with heroes like Surendra, Ulhas, Mahipal, Sapru, Suresh and Kidar Sharma himself (in Neki aur badi). There was not much to create an impression in either the set up or her co-stars. Though “she was still finding her feet, her natural flair for acting could easily be gauged”. Film critics raved about her performances in LaL Dupatta (1948), Singaar (1949), Paras (1949) and Apradhi (1949)
Madhubala had her share of failures, too. She survived these hard times with her reputation and popularity unaffected because she had a far larger corpus of memorable roles in other “films of substance and merit”.
Kamal Amrohi and Mahal
In 1914, Bombay Talkies was about to close down when it was spectacularly received by Kamal Amrohi, who approached the board of directors with the story of Mahal. Amrohi was the literary brain behind many of Indian cinema’s memorable movies. A scholar of Urdu and Persian, he made his debut as a writer with Sohrab Modi’s Jailor (1938) which was followed by Pukar (1939). A decade later he came to direct his first film, Mahal, possibly the best that Bombay Talkies had produced in years.
The plot of Mahal revolves around unfulfilled love that is carried over from one life to the next. The element of mystery was a further novelty. By late 1950, Madhubala was a nationwide sensation, a crowd-puller and on the pinnacle of fame for Mahal was drawing both cinegoers and acclaim. Bombay Talkies had given Madhubala her first break as a child artiste. The same banner provided another milestone, Mahal. With Mahal, Madhubala’s position in the annuals of Indian films was firmly established. Baby Mumtaz had travelled a long way. Among the films which followed the success of Mahal are Amar (1954), Mr and Mrs’55 (1955), Rajhat (1956), Chalti ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Howrah Bridge (1958), Kala Pani (1958) Do Ustad (1959), Jaali Note (1960) and Mughal-e-Azam (1960). The list is by no means exhaustive.
Some Memorable Films
In Satyen Bose’s Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi in which she teamed with the Ganguly brothers – Ashok Kumar, Anup Kumar and Kishore Kumar – Madhubala showed her acting prowess. Its controlled craziness and ‘zany’ situations made the film the most enjoyable for a long time. Unabashed mirth, pristine and infectious laughter and the cheeky refusal to pay up the Panch Rupaiya, Barah Aana are the highlights of the film. 
Kala Pani ranks as the most memorable movie in which Dev Anand and Madhubala appear together. The songs of Kala Pani comprised Achchaji main haari chalo maan Jao na. While shooting for this song Madhubala essayed a variety of emotions in a style that was inimitably her own.
Mughal-e-Azam, Karimuddin Asif’s, spectacular historical romance, portrayed the love story of the Mughal Prince, Salim, and the court dancer, Anarkali. I am told that it is little more than a legend though a mausoleum of Anarkali exists in Lahore. Mughal-e-Azam gave Madhubala the opportunity of fulfilling herself absolutely as an actress, for it was the role all actresses dream of playing. With the film she showed the world what she was capable of. In the words of Nimmi, “All the signs of a good artiste were there as far back as Basant, and Mughal-e-Azam was the final proof of an artiste par excellence. No film had offered her such intense creative satisfaction nor inspired her to such heights, and as an actress she had consistently been underrated”. 
Every shade and nuance of the character of Anarkali has been explored. The trials and travails, the doubts, uncertainties and terrors plaguing the court dancer, the new found courage to defy the emperor have been adequately portrayed including the last scene showing her standing in front of the Mughal emperor.
The picturization of Pyar kiya to darna kya was a veritable drama in itself. Simultaneous and in complete harmony with her steps as she danced the perfect kathak number, she was conveying messages galore to the emperor in what was essentially a confrontation between her and Akbar.
At the Première of Anarkali, “From Opera House to Marhatta Mandir all the side lanes were closed off… There has been no première like Mughal-e-Azam, nor will there ever be…” declares actor Ajit.
Unfortunately, the heart problem which compelled her to leave films was getting more serious. She was born with a hole in her heart. When she died there was as yet no cure for it anywhere.
On February 23 1969- nine days after her thirty-sixth birthday- Madhubala breathed her last. She was laid to rest in a cemetery in Santa Cruz which is also the final abode of Mohammed Rafi, Sahir Ludhianvi and Chand Usmani. And the rest is silence.
The legend of Madhubala lives on…