Love, light and POSITIVE things...

Some of it is what we have already heard.But it's true and must be propagated...

The lights of Diwali are meant to spread love and peace.

It's about the victory of good over evil. It's about embracing knowledge and the removal of ignorance,a major vice.


May peace and goodness prevail.It's needed a world which still has so much evil.

Picture courtesy:S&K Images,Babetude's own little photography club!!

There's a long way to go, but thank God we are in the right direction!

Possibly the most beautiful Indian actress of all time!

These are the pics from the mega hit, she gave a lot to K Asif's classic 'Mughal-e-Azam'which took about 7-10 years to make. 'Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya' was the only song and sequence from the movie that was shot in color. It was colorized fully in 2004 and the audiences can get a glimpse of the heroine's ethereal beauty, along with her wonderful natural acting skills.




Below is a picture of the famous stamp the Indian Government had released not very long ago,to honor the memory of this classic beauty...






Here are pics of Madhu Bala's famous lopsided smile, fabulous facial expressions and beautiful eyes which could emote beautifully.
















Madhu Bala looks angelic as a rustic beauty too, with minimal make up!







By now, it's quite clear that Babetude has a weakness for beauty...And while some women can't praise other women out of sheer small mindedness and jealousy, Babetude, has controlled all those negative emotions very well & loves to celebrate beauty. Of both men and women. Women win though, being the fairer sex:)
Well, being a media person for a while now, has made her so too.

Sometimes nature comes up with such masterpieces that one can't help but admire, and keep aside all sorts of small minded prejudices aside.Well, Babetude loves

Now getting to the topic, last year in Babetude's beauties, Babetude had talked about beauty in women being present for ages but only photography, and cinema has helped one to celebrate beauty better from the last century.

Like a few known people, I never liked the name Bollywood which is such a blatant and shameless copy, and would so rather say Hindi cinema. Hindi cinema has had many beauties, more so in the past(simply because there were more natural beauties back then, unlike too many botox, collagen, rhinoplasty, brow lift and so on fans, who are celebs of today.


After some observation, Babetude has come to the conclusion that Madhu Bala will qualify as Babatude's true blue beauty in cinema.


Well, yes she's a classic heroine. But then for Babetude too old is gold. She's a classic movie fan after all, someone who has studied and understands cinema. There's still a long way to go but it's seems she's in the right track.

Some might think the Madhu Bala kind of look wouldn't have worked in today's times where everybody sheds so many clothes, does everything possible to sculpt their bods, stay young, look perfect and wants to be so hot.Babetude's doesn't think like that and says that with Madhu Bala's kind of sensuality, charm, natural beauty, acting skills which is so rare nowadays she would have still won many hearts.

A film lover has very wisely agreed-"I don’t think people would have liked the performances of newbies back at the old times. But I am somewhat sure, Madhubala would have won people’s hearts even in today’s times.I do believe in the saying, “Old is Gold”"

Waheeda Rehman, Madhu Bala's contemporary from the 50s and later a young Sadhana followed by Sharmila Tagore and Hema Malini were very beautiful too, but Madhu had that unique quality. Aishwarya Rai now of course is very beautiful and Madhuri before her has been compared with Madhu Bala.But Madhu had something about her. Unmein jo baat thi, baaki ki heroines mein kahan hai!

Only recently I was chatting with a successful businessman of today who loves the movies, watches and comments, even though he doesn't live in India, said no Indian actress of today can be compared to her. He has a poster of her in his room and no one can beat that kind of sensuality and beauty.

So I have just too many people who have agreed with me. Including present fans who say things like "undoubtedly the most beautiful Hindi Film heroine ever." And there has been requests for a post on her in this blog too.Well, that's one of the reasons I made this post. And a tribute was long overdue too.

She was a delight to watch on screen. I must add again, nothing of that sort is there again.

Looking at the pictures & videos used in the post, the readers can be quite sure too!


Yesteryear's people who saw her in real life had a lot to say too...


These have been the talks of her ethereal beauty, written, said and published over the years. She was viewed with awe and respect by those of her own generation in the film industry. Watch the following quotes---




Baburao Patel's appellation stuck to her and "she was perceived as the 'Venus of the Indian Screen"

She was ecstatically, exasperatingly beautiful', Jewish Indian actress Nadira had said in her characteristic style. 'She created a kind of reverence, she had such an aura about her.'

Begum Para would see her sometimes in the mornings when she went out for a walk. 'You saw Madhubala's face and your day was made. She was a dream really '. Nirupa Roy had recalled, 'She was perfect, right down to her toe-nails. There never was and never will be anyone with her looks'.


Minu Mumtaz-'Her complexion was so fair and translucent that when she ate a paan (betel leaf) you could almost see the red colour going down her throat". Nimmi confessed to passing a sleepless night after her first meeting with Madhubala on the sets of their common starrer Amar. How would she fare in the film alongside 'this apparition, this angel in human shape?'


Producer-director Manmohan Desai had remarked: 'She had a porcelain beauty, like Dresden china, very fragile, very delicate with a gorgeous infectious smile and very expressive eyes. There was a mystery about her.She was the only true beauty to grace the Indian screen and she was beautiful in every film with no exceptions.'

It's been said the feeling of being struck dumb was a normal first-time reaction to Madhubala. It could happen to a casual visitor on her sets and it happened to the late Shammi Kapoor.

For his first picture with Madhubala, P N Arora's Rail Ka Dibba(1953), it's being said the great dancing actor,Shammi Kapoor had forgotten his dialogue and his mind a blank and could only gaze tongue-tied and lost. His brother and Babetude's favorite Shashi Kapoor regretted the fact that he never got to act with her.


Well-known journalist B K Karanjia discovered on first meeting her that 'none of her published photographs did full justice to her quite extraordinary beauty. He also wrote--I hadn’t met Madhubala (her real name was Mumtaz Begum) earlier, but I had seen several of her films and had been impressed by her attractive personality and her obvious budding talent. I wasn’t prepared for the woman I saw slowly descending a curved staircase from the upper floor. It was as if a vision of beauty had achieved form and presence, in a simple white sari and matching sandals, right in front of my eyes, without a touch of make-up. I was so struck that I forgot my manners and didn’t stand up when, before greeting everyone else, she stood before me, her manicured hands together in a namaste. I struggled to my feet, still feeling dazed, mumbled an apology for not standing up earlier and returned her namaste. With a dazzling smile, showing her pearly white teeth, she put her hands on my shoulders and pressed me down back into my seat. Then she went on to greet my wife and the other guests. My first thought was, “How could the camera have so signally failed to capture that quite extraordinary beauty?” I was to find my answer to that later. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Her deep brown hair loosened and fell around her shoulders; her complexion I can only describe with the cliché “peaches and cream”. Her eyes were luminous of a light brown, whose shade kept lightening or darkening according to her moods.But they were the most expressive features on her face. So was her voice, soft and low with a sexy huskiness to it. Then, suddenly, the answer came to me. Her films which I had seen were in black and white. Colour had not then come to Indian cinema. Only colour could do justice to the flush even now glowing on her cheeks.
Filmfare, the premier film magazine of the time, wrote:
Her complexion is moon-kissed and the smile an irresistible come-hither but stay-where-you-are smile.


J H Thakker spoke from a photographer's viewpoint: 'You could photograph her from any angle without make-up and still come away with a masterpiece. She was a cameraman's delight."


Actress and contemporary Shyama-"She was extremely beautiful. I met her for the first time during Tarana. She was good in her work. She was in love with Dilip saab (Kumar). We thought they would get married. But things didn’t work out. Her father Attaullah Khan was very strict. She would head home straight from the studios. She would not even attend premieres. Later, she got involved with Kishore Kumar. I remember him coming to meet her on the set of Barsaat Ki Raat."



Here's a picture of young Madhu.She was a child star before graduating to adult roles. The times are different and in those days, good looking and talented kids ended up using their looks and talents to take care of their families.In her short life span, starting from the age of 9, Madhu Bala is said to have done close to 70 films.




The following are said to be intimate & personal photographs taken by Life Magazine photographer James Burke for Life Magazine. It's been also said that The Life archive hosted by Google wrongly documented the date of these photographs as 1941, but probably these photos were taken in 1951. Very alluring indeed.















Tributes by some of her many fans of today...





These photographs show she was known a bit internationally... It's said respected director Frank Capra wanted her for a movie...In fact, she was one of the first Indian women to be featured in Hollywood, though she never got a chance to cross over, thanks to those times and her father's conservative ways.


Check this article---
http://films.hindi-movies-songs.com/madhubala-biggest-star-o.pdf


Most importantly, Madhu Bala could ACT. Guess, back then Hindi film lovers used to give more importance to the acting skills of an actor. The beauty factor was important too and hence Madhu Bala is regarded till now as one of the most beautiful actresses Bollywood has had. But now it seems no body cares about the acting part. Or the audiences have come without expectations? Is it a "beggars can't be choosers"phenomena( since very few actors actually act now)?


This lady was sensual to the core! And a fine performer at that. The songs below from the great Indian classic- 'Mughal-e- Azam' will always remain testimony to that...






God, Kya ada hai... marjavan indeed! Well,'Marjavan' has become a word associated with Madhu Bala. Wow! Like many males fans had said and a wonderful topic of discussion over the years.

Sensual, emotive, a plethora of expressions in another memorable song(check below). A fan has said it beautifully only recently-"No actress has ever looked so beautiful on Indian screen as Madhubala has in this song..."








That was a time when there were natural beauties gracing the screen.Yes, some movies were formulaic, melodramatic and cliche but they reflected Indian culture...

Well, someone who's delved in Indian culture( grown up in it) and has also looked at western entertainment( or say later moved to the western world like Babetude) can understand the reality, the more profound things about what was there then and what is left now.The rest who haven't done that or do that can't fathom it or understand it and can only make ignorant comments.

Born Mumtaz Jahan Begum Dehlavi, Madhubala was arguably the most naturally beautiful.Her eyes spoke a hundred words, she had a million dollar smile and those natural full lips, sensuous pout(totally natural unlike today's so called actresses) uttered a thousand beautiful dialogues and lip synced and emoted to many beautiful melodies on screen. She was an appreciator of beautiful Urdu poetry too and those who knew her said she was a wonderful, innocent person, a good human being who also helped the downtrodden.




It's so heart breaking up to this day that her days were cut short way too soon!

In fact, some who saw her in real life said she was even more beautiful in real life. simply make the comment her complexion was peaches and cream was cliche.In fact,apart from the veteran journalist who famously wrote about it, many others would agree that Black and White could't do justice to her kind of natural beauty, flawless complexion and it would have been good if she could have done a few colored films . She just did the Pyar Kiya To Drana kya' song which was shot in color(a lot of money was spent too) and 'Jwala' where she couldn't complete her full role and other actresses had to be used) which could bring out her beauty capably. 'Mughal- e -Azam' was colorized much later, and released around late 2004.As a rookie reporter,Babetude remembers going to the studio to watch the process while doing the story on it. But Madhu was not there any more. To just say this is SAD, is an understatement.



Some things in life isn't within a human's control. Guess, because of some misfortune again, Madhu was over looked at the awards ceremonies during her time. So she really probably is an underrated actress, with her beauty attracting more attention than her performances.This despite being brilliant in comedy with her sense of comic timing in Mr and Mrs 55, and the movies with Kishore Kumar and her performances of high dramatic calibre in 'Amar' and the unforgettable 'Mughal-e-Azam'



But her legend lives on. Looking at what's happening with current B'wood, one can say why possibly, but quite easily actually, Madhu Bala can qualify as the most beautiful Hindi movie woman(as a person, actress, human being) of all time.



Well, even in Hollywood a gorgeous and great actor and the real pioneer of method acting before Brando,Montgomery Clift didn't win an Oscar despite being nominated a couple of times.Vivien Leigh was considered so beautiful looking on screen that people sometimes disregarded her acting skills. Sometimes luck, good looks and talent don't go hand in hand. It's very, very sad but such is life sometimes and everything is in the Almighty's hand.Her luck too wasn't good and she had a sad life. A lot of what happened to her and some others in the 50s break my heart thought that's my favorite era in art and cinema...Babetude feels if medical science was that improved back then,a wonderful contributor of art like Madhu Bala's life span could have been increased. Monty Clift( check Babetude's loving tribute on his birthday recently) wouldn't have gone through so many health problems and issues.

Well yes, while technology, science and medical science has grown by leaps and bound, cinema and music(in Hollywood too) has lost their souls.

Hollywood still makes some interesting flicks which convey messages, though many complain about all that they are missing. Music lovers do that do. They miss the days of Elvis, Jim Reeves, Sinatra and the greats. Bollywood with it's copied name has lost even more by losing it's identity and has to do more( not just a little bit) to be taken seriously or to touch souls.

Babetude is pained and her sincere prayer is for an improvement. Till then, she and her kind are staying away from B'wood fully.The decision is made.Period.

Monty Clift Aniversario...

October 17th is Monty Clift's Birthday. The Pioneer of method acting...

He will always be one of the most handsome, intense, best actors to grace the silver screen. He's arguably one of Hollywood's finest talents. His beautiful eyes spoke a million words( After a little look at the pictures posted, many readers who aren't much aware of his work, will agree for sure!)


Most remembered for 'The Search', 'A place in the Sun', 'From Here to Eternity' and 'Judgement at Nuremberg'.

His career was short but during that short space of time, he had a lot to offer to the world of cinema. Well, Babetude is sad when she writes and talks about so many genuine and beautiful artistes leaving the world way too soon. So as some wise men say,"Did God really need the company of the wonderful artistes in Heaven?"



But sadly he was underrated too. Photographed here with good friend for life, the lovely Liz Taylor.









He will always be alive in the hearts of all true blue appreciators!

(Some pictures courtesy 'The Montgomery Clift Blog' which is one of the many online pages that strives at keeping the great actor's memory alive).Must say some fans on whom he has made a lasting impression have made some beautiful tributes today, around the world.

Babetude laments India's cultural degeneration):

First, let me make this clear. Here Babetude is talking about B'wood( though I don't like the copied name either)because for many who are interested in Indian from abroad, and even Indians, think it reflects Indian culture.







Today out of the blue a childhood memory hit Babetude! And she decided to listen to this beautiful song which she has a memory of from the 90s.The composition might be from the 50s but yours truely had the good fortune of viewing it only in the early -mid nineties, on TV.


What a beautiful song it is...What a haunting melody, it can stay with a music lover( more so Indian music lovers) for a long time.

The youtube vidoes which most of us net users look at now-a-days have some very sensible comments. Babetude has talked about it in the past.

About this well liked tune, a user calls it relaxing apart from being beautiful and brilliant.

This composition is capable of leaving the emotional listener a little sad too. Of course that would be stand true for who understands music and better still, the poetic lyrics.


Well,Babetude has talked about the legendary Kishore Kumar in the past. The lady in the video- the legendary Indian beauty Madhu Bala makes it very alluring as well. No two ways about that!

The sad part is that in those times there were natural beauties who were Godesses of acting too. Madhu Bala, Meena Kumari, Nutan and Nargis were some examples.



In fact, of late there's been too much of sad news all around.The loss of the great ghazal maestro with the golden voice, Jagjeet Singh recently has also left the art world and true blue appreciators very sad as well...It won't be too much to say that true blue appreciators of music and classic cinema lovers are being left orphaned with the exit of so many veterans.


Visionary Steve Jobs who passed on recently too has very wisely quoted-" Old has to go to make way for the new". But what does one do when the new is deteriorating things instead of improving or even preserving. Technological and economic advancement in India is there, but most wise men think it's losing touch with it's culture.



And what do audiences have in India right now? Is there music of this kind and sensuality of this kind left in India any more? It's really very sad and it's just another post where Babetude laments again...Guess she will have to until things change. '

Babtude's repeating again- there are a few good movies but their number is low. The non sense outnumbers the sensible. And there's no sensuality...Like how the fan said, probably it died in the 60s with she going away in Feb 1969. Well guess in the 70s it was there abit but it's hardly there any more. It's more about blatant sexuality these days. Well it's been noticed that the process of deterioration had started around two decades back and now it's kind of reaching its pinnacle.

An elderly lady close to me, who's not even from India, says she's sad when sometimes she sees an entire movie and doesn't see the heroine in a saree. Her husband who's a very knowledgeable elderly man who left India in 1960, agreed he won't be able to recognize India of today. I might also return to India after a while now, when I am in my thirties, but even from far, this is a painful sight.

It's all bout business, marketing and money making. All that is important but at the expense of what?Can someone tell the dream merchants and the sellers of dreams that if an intelligent viewer wishes to enjoy westernized stuff, he/she can very well turn to what western culture offers- Hollywood, even Broadway, ballet and so on.After all, the original is the best. Yes, beaing westernized is good but has improved only a few things in the movies... Futuristic films will be appreciated but not as much as Hollywood futuristic films and science fiction which have much better technology.If a lot of things had improved at the expense of losing cultural identity, it was okay. But it's not so. Most films are still laughable and mindless song and dance sequences in foreign locations don't help.

While actors looking fit is very important these days and it's there, that doesn't mean one can over look the most important thing - performance itself.

Maybe the problem is that the amount of intelligent viewers ain't that much! As long as the mindset of the majority doesn't change, nothing is going to change...

Wonder till how long one(the folks that care) will have to tolerate she male hybrids, expressionless non actors who CAN'T deliver their own dialogues, nonsensical films, most times copied from Hollywood, and mediocre loud (on many occasions copied as well)music reflecting Indian culture! Will this stop? Time to stop it but who will?

The world loses a tech giant, a visionary): iSad too):

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/10/06/steve-jobs-front-pages_n_997817.html
Iconic figure of this century

Borrowed from Some touching Twitter and FB posts---

Barack Obama
Quote of the day: "The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve's success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented." —President Obama tonight on the passing of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was born out of wedlock, put up for adoption at birth, dropped out of college, then changed the world. What's your excuse?


Steve Jobs: "Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter.. Going to bed saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters"

RiP Steve Jobs. The Willy Wonka of our generation.

Rest Well, Steve, for you have earned it, friend.


3 apples changed our life 1st apple of adam & eve 2nd apple of newtons invention of gravity &3rd apple of Steve Jobs. RIP

Albert Einstein: 1879 - 1955. Steve Jobs: 1955 - 2011. It's almost as if he continued the legacy of innovation


RT @GreatestQuotes: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” - Steve Jobs

Has anyone seen the clouds today? Going through a major design upgrade, Steve Jobs RIP

Steve Jobs was "bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it." ~ @BarackObama -on.mash.to/nNoU2S


richardbranson
RIP Steve Jobs. A truly great businessman. Inspiration to so many. A real Family man. He will be sorely missed. virg.co/steve
RIP.May the Almighty's light shine upon him forever.

Where is current B'wood's soul and substance??

It was Soha Ali Khan's birthday today. Well, must say, it was a pleasure to read a wonderful post on her by a famous Bombay female blogger...

It was a pleasure in the sense that most media people in the country of my birth( i.e India) are only interested in giving attention to so called big stars.

Well, nothing wrong with that. The problem happens when some of them have made a mockery out of acting.


Like Mother, like daughter. How pretty she looks in the pictures, so much like her gorgeous mom, the original sex pot.







Bad news had hit the family when Sharmila ji lost her Nawab/ former cricket captain husband,a refined, handsome man, Soha and her siblings their dad and the nation that lost a Tiger, only 11/12 days back.It's sad...Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle who yours truly follows on Twitter, tweeted it so right..The Jolliest of men in recent days have been taken away in recent days...

Some things are in the hands of fate indeed. But they seem to be holding on, being strong.



But as far as movies go,will things change again??? I mean for the better?Sharmila Ji was a great performer( from the golden days, the times which Babetude misses so much) and so is Soha. She has proved her mettle in Rang De Basanti which was a hit, followed by Ahista Ahista, Khoya Khoya Chand, Mumbai meri jaan...Some were small films, but yet her performance was good. She was praised recently at the fashion shows where the pics posted above were clicked, a little more than a fortnight back, but not worshiped like a star. Her brother Saif Ali Khan who has been around for almost two decades and does more commercial movies, in fact is.

Many true blue film lovers today are lamenting...And there's reason enough for it!

Look at who are stars these days...There's nothing much to speak about the acting and performances of big male or female stars...Aamir Khan, the thinking actor with his wonderful choices of scripts, and acting is an exception.So are some experimental directors.But the overall percentage of film folks this kind is low...

Maybe also because the audience want other things( more superficial entertainment?) and the filmmakers and even big banners want to play safe? In the process they end up encouraging non actors more and more and making a mockery of the art of film making, acting... No wonder a lot of what B'wood produces is not taken seriously worldwide.

The worst is the big star now who can't speak the language in which her movies are made. Worse, she looks and is old( as claimed by a few), but is pretending to be young, getting paired with younger heroes and older stars.A few knowledgeable ones( including Bloggers) protest, know the truths,can't stand the dead, expressionless face. Babetude remembers during the time she was associate editor how one of her young male writers had called this lady the 'horse lady" in the review of a terrible masala flicka that glorified the turban about three years ago. Yes it's kind of insulting but people who expose themselves in media and now with so much of social media etc being around, public figures have to take criticism.

But apparently some men and women find this masculine looking star sexy...That's why she's around of course, right?. Does it reflect well on India?

No.A smart guy had once said, even transsexuals in Brazil( a country known for hot men & women) are far hotter.

Not that I and others of my type have problems with foreign actors acting in B town movies. Well, I live outside of India and am a part of the cosmopolitan culture of the world,so why would me and someone like me have complaints? We see it in Hollywood all the time. But they are actors acting or trying to better the craft. They believe in performing. Not someone who makes a mockery of the art itself. Dialogue delivery is important part of acting. It's not about fluttering eyelashes and smiling.Oh, it's so shameful in B'wood right now...True blue cine fans have a lot to be sad about.

Apart from the name being a blatant copy. Mr. Bachchan, the talented theatre personality Sanjana Kapoor has talked about how it was not called so, years ago.

Also if the foreign actors play roles suited to themselves there's nothing to be sad about. Like how Penelope Cruz does roles in Hollywood, or half Indian beauty Lisa Ray from Canada, foreign item girls and talented British actress Alice Patten did in Rang De Basanti...

There are some wonderful examples from the past as well...



Now maybe some can understand why the feminine, classy dresser but dusky( and discriminated against as claimed by her for being so and also flat chested in Btown) Freida Pinto could happily leave M'bai and be a rising star in Hollywood instead!

She's just one. There could be others who rise just like that too. In India, it seems anything is possible. Here's the video where some truths about that so called star is out.A forthright lady, who's known for her honesty had spoke some facts not very long ago.( It will be uploaded soon too)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIdkw_xy1I4&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL365BD9F65AE9030E


Changes will be so much welcome in filmdom.When stars will be great actors too! Till then, like some you tube users said, by staying away from most B'wood Babetude is missing nothing at all!

It's Gandhi Jayanti again!

Last year Babetude mused on Gandhiji's Birthday...


http://thebabetudeblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/remembering-mahatma_02.html


Gandhi who came up with so many ideals for the world to follow will always be special for many more centuries to come. In many parts of the world!

In India, someone known was right when she tweeted not very long ago, how Gandhi would be sad about so many ideals of his, being murdered in the country.

Let's hope and pray things get better for the world and for Gandhiji's India...

"Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram, Patita pavana Seeta Ram.Ishwar Allah Tero naam, Sab ko sanmati de Bhagwan..."