Confirming it, Madhubala’s sister Madhur Bhushan had told Filmfare, “Apa first fell in love with Premnath. Their relationship continued for nine years they even got engaged. She filled a void that was crying out to be filled - not by an intellectually sharp woman but a spirited woman whose liveliness and charm were the ideal panacea for the wound that was taking its own time to heal.” She, as I said earlier, was very sprightly and vivacious and, as such, she could draw me out of my shyness and reticence effortlessly. We had viewers admiring our pairing in Tarana and our working relationship was warm and cordial. Speaking about it in his autobiography, Dilip Kumar: The Substance and The Shadow, Times Now, had quoted him as saying: “Was I in love with Madhubala as the newspapers and magazines reported at that time? As an answer to this oft-repeated question straight from the horse’s mouth, I must admit that I was attracted to her both as a fine co-star and as a person who had some of the attributes I hoped to find in a woman at that age and time. She was vivacious, he inherently shy - sparks had to fly. The two met as co-stars in the 1951 film Tarana. Though she married singer Kishore Kumar and reportedly had other dalliances before, the love of her life was thespian Dilip Kumar. In simple terms, it meant that her body would produce more blood than necessary and it would spill out of her mouth and nose.Īlso read: The New York Times compares Madhubala to Marilyn Monroe in ‘Overlooked’ obituaries specialĭespite ill health, which was discovered in 1954, she found love. She was born with a congenital heart disease, Ventricular Septal Defect, which loosely translates to ‘hole in the heart’. Yet for someone so beautiful and successful, her personal life was dotted with remorse, illness and heartbreaks. Indian screen is yet to see a beauty as vivacious and as innocent as Madhubala. Even today, the benchmark of beauty and grace in Bollywood is Madhubala. The actor died at a young age of 36 but left behind a legacy that few can manage to this day. Had legendary Hindi film actor Madhubala been alive today, she would have turned 87 on February 14.