Madhubala’s captivating beauty and screen presence was at its peak in her era. Her incredible performances, are to date, celebrated wholeheartedly.
However, the actress did not have an easy life off-camera.
Madhubala suffered from a congenital heart disease (ventricular septal defect). Not only did that take a toll on her physical health, but she suffered emotionally as well.
She had lost a lot of weight because of her medical illness, and did not want to venture out or meet people.
Her sister Madhur Bhushan, shared incidents from the last few days of Madhubala, suffering from her grave illness.
Madhur told Filmfare, “Aapa was reduced to a skeleton. People wanted to visit her but she didn’t want anyone to see her. She would look at herself in the mirror and say, ‘Dekho main kya se kya hogayee!‘, if people comment on my looks I’ll cry all the more.”
She added, “Aapa never took help from us. She would take her bath, and have food on her own. An oxygen cylinder was kept by her side as she felt breathless. She would say, ‘Don’t waste money on me. I won’t survive. There’s no one else to earn’.”
The New Delhi centre of Madame Tussauds unveiled a statue of Madhubala on August 10, 2017. Madhubala’s sister Madhur Bhushan had attended the event.
Upon asking who Madhur would like to see as the lead actress, if a biopic was made on Madhubala, she instantly said, “Kareena Kapoor Khan!”
Madhubala’s illness was discovered on the sets of Bahut Din Huye (1954), where the actress spat out blood while brushing her teeth.
She was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with a heart defect.
However, she continued to film strenuous scenes for Mughal-E-Azam(1960), despite her failing health.
