Old actress Madhubala would have been 86 years old had she been alive today. Google has paid tribute with a doodle by Bengaluru-based artist Muhammed Sajid. She was appreciated for her breathtaking appearance which has earned comparisons to Venus.
She was a gifted actor with an understated style well-suited for comedies, dramas, and romantic roles alike. She was “the Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood”.
Madhubala was born in Delhi in 1933 as Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi. Her family later moved to Bombay and she was raised in a town located near the Bombay Talkies film studio. She made her first on-screen appearance at the age of 9 as Baby Mumtaz in the movie Basant. Five years later, Madhubala made her official debut alongside Raj Kapoor in Neel Kamal. Being the family’s main breadwinner, she worked hard to support her parents and four sisters.
She appeared in nine films during 1949, including a spellbinding breakout performance in the box office hit Mahal. She went on to act in over 70 films in the next two decades, some of the notable ones being Beqasoor, Badal, Howrah Bridge, Kala Pani, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi and the iconic Mughal-e-Azam.
Madhubala married actor Kishore Kumar in 1960. Madhubala’s health deteriorated in the 1960s as she was suffering from congenital heart disease. She died on February 23, 1969.