Monday, February 14, 2011

"Aaiye meherbaan" by Madhubala



Shakti Samanta's classic 1958 film Howrah Bridge today provides us with an excellent example of the myriad charms of Madhubala - one of the biggest stars of the Indian cinema from its so-called Golden Age - singing Aaiye meherbaan*...

Born on this day in 1933, Madhubala died just nine days after her 36th birthday, in February 1969; she'd been living with a ventricular septal defect - more commonly known as a 'hole in the heart' - since it had first been diagnosed in 1950. At the time of her death she was married to fellow actor and playback singer Kishore Kumar, whom she'd married in 1960. Oddly enough (or not, considering the nature of Indian cinema) Madhubala's co-star in Howrah Bridge is her future brother-in-law, Ashok Kumar.

*I apologize in advance if you feel this spelling is incorrect; while conducting research for this piece I found the title of the song spelled at least five different ways. In the end I chose the spelling I considered to be the most prevalent. If there's a better way to do it, help a whitey out and leave a comment.
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