Madhubala: The timeless personification of love and beauty

Why are the world’s most beautiful women doomed to destruction at a shockingly young? Whether it was Marilyn Monroe in Hollywood or Meena Kumari and Madhubala in Mumbai, they all perished before reaching the age of 40. Madhubala has remained embedded in public memory as the timeless beauty who enthralled audiences in Mahal, Mr & Mrs 55, Howrah Bridge and of course Mughal-e-Azam where she had to wear heavy iron chains in spite of doctors warning her against such strain due to heart condition.

Flawless, seamless, timeless….What do we say about a film that immortalized erach one of its cast members and technicians? Mughal-e-Azam is to the pseudo-historical what the Taj Mahal is to Agra. Its imposing grandeur, breathtaking beauty and , most important of all, its emotional energy within its imposing visuals , remain undimmed by the tides of time.We only have to see the young members of the audience who were born 20-25 years after the film was released, respond to the sheer scope and spectrum of the epic, and to Madhubala’s screen presence and Lata Mangeshkar’s voice, to know how essential it is to allow ensuing generations immediate access into our all-time classics. How can we have Mughal-e-Azam without Madhubala tramelled and tormented, enchained and singing Beqas pe karam kijiye?

Let’s raise our hands to toast one of the most enduring landmarks of Hindi cinema whose appeal and impact remains unabated . Rather, with every generation the verbal sparring between Emperor Akbar (Prithviraj Kapoor) and his adamant son Salim (Dilip Kumar) acquires renewed poetic intensity, thanks in no small measure to the dialogues which fall in a tumult of pride honour and self identity into Asif’s epic design.

What hits us once again in this re-re-viewing of an imperishable classic is the contemporary quality of the narrative. The opulence of the sets, the regal bearing of the characters, their splendid yet subdued expressions and articulations refuse to become a kaneez (slave) to passing fads fancies and trends. From the first frame to last, the intensity of the lovers’ passion infects the audience like in no other romantic epic except Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas.

The indomitable qualities in the storytelling are too many , and too intense, to be discussed at length. What hits us is the magical chemistry between Madhubala and Dilip Kumar in the rightly celebrated love sequences. She ‘s constantly and quietly coy coquettish frail and hypnotic.

Dilip Kumar’s understated expressions of romantic passion are to this day, exemplary and unbelievable. Long before method acting and naturalistic self expression came into vogue, this mighty performer patented the most astonishing mode of muted acting which serves as the perfect foil to his screen-father Prithviraj Kapoor’s bombastic flamboyant and theatrical style of performance.

Together the father and son ignite a fire that blazes across the screen like no other film in Indian cinema. As for Dilip Kumar and Madhubala , have we ever seen a pair so sheathed in ardour, passion and despair? Every caress, every touch every breath they take exudes the power of true love.

The expansive war sequences and the striking-rich tones textures and architecture of the royal interiors come together in a dance celebrating the epic grandiosity that seems to have been conceived for infinite posterity.

To say that R.D. Mathur’s cinematography is ahead of its times it to state the very obvious. The camera pans the lover’s face and the breathtaking landscape with equal grace. The symmetry of time and space achieved within the restrictions imposed by the period genre that demands a strictly melodramatic mode of execution ,are a marvel of disciplined creativity.

How did K Asif do it?! As we look at the newly coloured innerscapes and outer grandeur of this timeless love epic we wonder what came first, the passion of love? Or its majestic manifestation by K. Asif. And were all the definitions of feminine beauty invented exclusively for Madhubala?

As she sings, dances, suffers and perishes for love, we wonder if there can ever be another epitome of beauty quite like her. Or another film to do justice to someone as beautiful as Madhubala!The magic of Madhubala in Mughal-e-Azam is the magic of Hindi cinema. She epitomizes all the grace and feminine beauty that make those flickering images onscreen come alive as a collective emblem of the life force.

And to think that she died so young. 36 is no age to die. Not for one of the most beautiful women God ever created….or maybe He needed to have her up there to beautify Heaven.Madhubala is as much synonymous with beauty as Lata Mangeshkar is the epitome for melody.

Recalled Lataji, “She stipulated in her contracts that she wanted only me to do her playback singing. This was after the success of Aayega aanewala in Mahal, though I had sung for her earlier….During those days we’d meet socially quite often. That kind of camaraderie no longer exists. ..Madhubala mujhe bahut pyar se milti thi. After Mahal I did notice a change in her. Me? I was too busy recording to notice changes in myself(laughs). But yes , 1949 was a decisive year for me. Every film I sang for was a superhit. There was no looking back after that…Later Madhubala fell ill. But she continued to work. In fact she performed to some of my best songs in Mughal-e-Azam while she was terribly ill. I didn’t meet her as often as I met Nargis.”

God knows, Madhubala turned Hindi cinema into an ambrosial paradise for as long as she remained alive. Short-lived as her stardom was, the reign at the top was swift and splendid. Born in a conservative Muslim family Madhubala started her career in 1942 at the age of 9 in Basant. Her first hit as a grownup leading lady was Kidar Sharma’s Neel Kamal where both she and Raj Kapoor were introduced.

It was Kamal Amrohi’s Mahal in 1949 which gave Madhubala the image of an ethereal unattainable yet warm and gregarious beauty who could be diva and she-devil at the same time. Lata Mangeshkar’s haunting melody Ayega aanewala added immense allure to Madhubala’s screen persona. The actress and the singer remained associated throughout Madhubala’s life and career.

The Nightingale recalls meeting the Venus socially. “She was always warm and friendly. Though everyone stressed on her breathtaking beauty Madhubala never took her looks seriously.”

Her looks were so overpowering that most people refused to perceive her as a brilliant actress with impeccable poignant and comic timing. If she could do the timeless romance so accurately in Mehboob Khan’a Amar and K Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam she was also the perfect comedienne in her films with Kishore Kumar , like Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi, Half Ticket and Jhumroo.

Some of these comedies were done at a time when Madhubala knew she was dying. She had been detected with a hole in the heart. The doctors gave her just a few years of live. She dragged on living , with no one but her husband Kishore Kumar to tend to her in her final days. Before his death Kishore Kumar remembered her screams of pain as she died little by little. The chiselled beauty who won not only Prince Salim’s heart but thousands of hearts in Mughal-e-Azam always had a problem with her heart. She had fallen in love with the Thespian Dilip Kumar. They were signed together for BR Chopra’s rustic romance Naya Daur. But when Madhubala refused to shoot outdoors due to her failing health, she was dragged to court where Dilip Kumar made a public declaration of his love for the beauteous damsel. “I will love her until the SHE dies,” thereby pre-empting her inevitable end.

Madhubala’s last released film was Jwala with Sunil Dutt in 1970. By then she was already gone. The legend of course lives on, as does stories of impish personality and incessant giggles from those who had the privilege of knowing her personally.

Yash Chopra had the opportunity to direct Madhubala for his brother BR Chopra’s film Naya Daur before she was replaced by Vyjanthimala. He can’t forget that brief interlude with her.

“She was there for a while…and then she was gone!” said Yash Chopra , putting his finger on Madhubala’s brief romance with fame and life.