If a survey was done all over the world to select biggest fans of cinema arguably Indian fans would win the competition hands down. We Indians live cinema, eat it, savor it and use it as a reference point in our day to day discourses as well.
Where else can one find fans viewing cinema on a screen made out of jute inside snooty godowns, or on a white screen being viewed from both the sides in an open expanse in the country side. From the times when there were only moving images, to the times when one can really be part of the cinematic oeuvre panning on the screen, cinema is elixir of life.
For a country which cannot provide various forms of entertainment, it is cinema that has been able to provide the much needed relief and it arguably is the only secular institution in our country that continues to vibrate and pulsate with raw energy.
For the present generation as also a generation from the past, to revive the magic of cinema, to relive it, as also to underscore the vital flag posts in the Indian cinematic history, there would not be a much better reference point than to travel this journey through the books that have been written on Indian cinema. Here a caveat needs to be introduced, that the volume of work related to cinema is not that copious as it is in Hollywood, may be it could be owing to the fact that we believe more in oral history than in written one.
Even then, what is at disposal provides an interesting insight into the legends of Indian cinema, who have been responsible in their own way to take the Hindi cinema to its exalted glory.
So here we go.
Cinema is celebration of beauty, of forms, proportions. When one talks about beauty in the Indian context, first name that pops in in everybody's mind across generations is that of Madhubala, whose beauty is still to be surpassed by any other female actor till date. Her sheer presence on the screen lit it up, and bathed it in a glorious light of happiness, well-being and enjoyment.
Her posters still sell like hotcakes along with other female stars, and it is therefore imperative that this journey of cinema begin with a book written on her life. She was after all, the Venus of the Indian screen, the title was conferred on her by Baburao Patel, and nobody has been able to displace her from that mantle. A timeless beauty, who had so much pain in her till date.
One does not know whether the radiance and beauty that she possessed was in some way leveraging on the pain and pathos that she had in personal life and transformed it into a radiant charm. Even though it has been more than fifty years since she passed away, hers is the poster that continues to adorn male hostel rooms to this day all across the country.
Khatija Akbar has done a monumental service by bringing out a book on her 'I want to Live- The Story of Madhubala' as it encapsulates vividly the life and times of Madhubala in as succinct details as could be possible. The title is indeed apt, as during her last years, when Madhubala was inflicted with multiple health related problems, her yearn to live became more predominant, but she did not express it, as she had done throughout her life and passed away from this world in painful silence.
Madhubala is the only star from Hindi film industry in whose memory government of India had issued commemorative silver coins; she formed a construct of 25 eminent persons selected from all walks of life by the government. Even god when he created her understood that she was a creation which may not be repeated, so he arrived her arrival in this world on Valentine's Day i.e. On 14 February 1933, Madhubala was love goddess personified, beauty with an element of crookedness that accentuated her charisma , a smile that lit the atmosphere with her radiance, enigmatic sensuality shot through and through with an element of subtlety, and a screen presence which weaved a miasma of magic in the heart of her fans, a feat no other actor so far has been able to emulate with such consistency, but for a Madhuri Dixit, to an extent
According to Khateeja, perhaps her enduring persona and radiance could be on account of her slightly crooked smile, with an element of mischief which lit the screen. There are anecdotes of her fall into legendary laughs during shooting, specifically when she used to shoot with Dev Anand and she starred with him in eight films.
Indeed her crooked smile and mischief has been immortalized in the song, KALA PANI – 'Achcha jee main haari', no other actress could pack that naughty, submissiveness and mischief in the manner in which she did in this song.
It is for the first time through the book one finds that Madhubala and Dilip Kumar were madly in love with each other, and but for a towering personality in the form of her father, Madhubala and Dilip Kumar could have been married to each other. The passion that they could invoke of being madly in love as they did in MUGHAL-E-AZAM was owing to the fact that they were madly in love with each other. Khatija informed that Dilip Kumar had given her only 10 minutes to speak about Madhubala, but their interaction lingered on for more than 45 minutes, a pointer to the fact that Dilip Kumar indeed had an element of soft corner for her.
Another leitmotif of her personality was her full-throated laugh which melted all the tensions, trials and tribulations that the audience could have in its mind. She set the tone for mystique in Indian cinema with her iconic portrayal in MAHAL, and it became reference for scores of movies subsequently as informed by various directors in the book. She was worshipped for her beauty as she was the only actress who could convey sensuality; oomph and hesitation all in one go through her persona as manifest from BARSAAT KI RAAT, or CHALTI KA NAAM GAADI.
Madhubala was a total recluse and therefore Khatija Akbar's labor of love has to be commented as it is a product of labor of love for Indian Venus, and this book would immortalize Madhubala among the heart of cinema fans for all times to come. Underlining her timeless beauty one writer had quoted:
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Begum Para used to see her face in the morning, and her day was made. Shammi Kapoor when he met for the first time, seeing her, forgot the dialogue and kept on gaping at her.
She was professionalism personified and there is an anecdote in the book about an incident in 1948. It had rained heavily but she scampered across and waved through to be in Studio on time, and gave a message to the industry that professionalism is what would make the industry succeed. As a matter of fact she forced scores of producers and directors to report on time to shoot the films and in a way contributed to completion of films in time, and could enthrall scores of fans.
Her commitment to her profession came out at its best during shooting of MUGHAL-E-AZAM. She enacted the role of Anarkali for eight long years, but nobody can discern in a single frame that there has been a discontinuity. It was her commitment to her profession whereby though being terminally ill; she created one of the biggest landmarks of Hindi cinema through her monumental contribution.
As MUGHAL-E-AZAM was an iconic film, the book has devoted a full chapter to MUGHAL-E-AZAM and is full of nuggets that made this book a cult film in the history of Indian cinema.
There is an anecdote in the book underlining the beauty of Madhubala which was narrated by B K Karanjia. Karanjia had gone to meet Frank Capra along with a copy of Madhubala's picture, and seeing it Capra had exclaimed 'Is she really that beautiful'? New York's Theatre Arts while featuring her had claimed 'The Biggest Star in the World- and She is not in Beverly Hills'. She was also called Garbo of Indian cinema, but the difference lay in the fact that she was vivacious, caring, loving and indeed she ought to be compared more with Marilyn Monroe.
But as they say even moon has scars, so the Indian Venus also had a scar in her acting oeuvre. It was associated with NAYA DAUR. She had been signed to play the role opposite Dilip Kumar, but she was not allowed to go for outdoor shoot by her father. This infuriated B R Chopra and he filed a court case against her. In this case Dilip Kumar sided with B R Chopra and it signaled the end of a beautiful relationship.
Madhubala did try to make overtures but it was spurned by Dilip Kumar. It indeed is one of the sordid sagas associated with the world of cinema, which never was repeated again
For the fans of Kishore Kumar it would come as a shock that though they shared fantastic on-screen chemistry in CHALTI KA NAAM GAADI, Madhubala's marriage with Kishore Kumar was doomed from the day it happened, according to Khatija owing to the idiosyncratic behavior of Kishore Kumar and she passed away from this world on a sad note.
Her physical life may have been snuffed out at 36 years of age, for generations to come; this book would indeed be a valid reference point for the Indian Venus. The only lacuna in the book, if one were to say, is that at times the book meanders and becomes anecdotal; but it is owing to paucity of reference material to construct details of her life, this book is a monumental part of historical construct of Indian cinema and cinema students would savor it.
