Film making

Fate had everything designed for Mumtaz Jehan Begum who stepped into the world of films as a child, only to be popular as Madhubala in the following years and make a lot of of her fans mad. But it was one that did not last for a long time, as ill-health and a disrupted private life would before long weaken her at a young age. But she still arguably stays as the prettiest woman ever to have graced the Indian cinema.

Mumtaz was born in 1933 (14th February) as the fifth child in her family. In Amiya Chakravarty's Basant (released in 1942), she performed as a child actress when she was just 9 years of age. She was cast as a child actress again in a lot of films that were released in the coming years. Kidar Sharma, one of the popular filmmakers of the time, offered her first lead role opposite Raj Kapoor in 'Neel Kamal' when she was 14. The actual break, however, came with 'Mahal' (1949), which shot her and singer Lata Mangeshkar to nationwide fame. Even before that, Mumtaz became well known as Madhubala.

Madhubala was diagnosed with a severe heart ailment, when she spat blood during the shooting of a film. Her affair with Dilip Kumar was widely known but it ended after some time. In the first half of 1950's, she appeared in several popular movies such as Badal, Saiyan, Taraana and Aaram. She also proved adept at playing comic roles by playing the lead with Guru Dutt in 'Mr and Mrs '55'.

During the the later years of the decade, her mass appeal crashed as several movies failed to entertain the audience. Besides the career failure, she was also disturbed personally when her affair with Dilip Kumar tragically ended. She also got dragged in a court case with B R Chopra. Her personal anguish,because of these issues, made her health deteriorate.

But in later half of 1950s, she turned the tide back in her favor,, with a string of successes such as 'Phagun', 'Howrah Bridge', 'Kala Pani' and 'Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi' the last one of which had her acting along with would-be husband Kishore Kumar. Her biggest success came in 1960 with the K Asif directed film Mughal-E-Azam. Madhubala married Kishore Kumar in this year, but that was not for long.

Post 1960, Madhubala's health deteriorated more and she went to London for surgery. However, medical experts predicted she will not be surviving for long and the heart surgery proved futile. Even though she was weak due to her health, she continued to act in movies till her end. She died at the age of 36.