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.