P.Surendranath 
Madhubala, born Mumtaz Begum Delhavi, was one of the most celebrated film stars in India from the late 1940s to early 1960s. In 1951, James Burke photographed her for a feature in the American magazine Life. Her fame reached beyond India as well: director Frank Capra offered her a break in Hollywood (which her father declined) and in August 1952, David Cort of Theatre Arts Magazine wrote on her as "the biggest star in the world." Cort estimated Madhubala's Indian and Pakistani fan base equal to the combined population of the then United States and Western Europe, and also reported her popularity in countries such as Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia and East Africa. Watch her here in this song with hero Ashok Kumar in the film Howrah Bridge
Kishore Kumar and Madhubala were another real life couple who made a beautiful on-screen pair but their marital relationship was not a happy one.She married Kishore at the age of 27 out of anger against Dilip Kumar and soon she was diagnosed with a severe heart disease - Ventricular Septal Defect.She died at the young age 36 in 1969. Enjoy their duet here from the film ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi' (1958.)
Singers: Kishore and Asha, Music: SD Burman, Lyrics Majrooh.
(Collection by Pappula Surendranath, High Court Advocate, Hyderabad)
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