Mar

19

Madhubala on a postal stamp

March 19, 2008 posted by indiatime |

“….She had a luminous quality — a combination of wistfulness, radiance, yearning, that set her apart and yet made everyone wish to be part of it, to share in the childlike naïvete which was at once so shy and yet so vibrant….”

- Lee Strasberg, director (eulogy to Marilyn Monroe)

madhubala stampIndia’s postal department is showing its softer and romantic side this week, by releasing a postal stamp for the most beautiful face that ever adorned Bollywood’s silver screens. Madhubala, mere mention of whose name can make one skip a few heartbeats, can now be owned by everyone, thanks to a commemorative tribute that was long overdue.

The tribute comes as part of an event organized by the India Post, a philatelic exhibiton cum tribute to the Indian cinema in general. Madhubala, aka Mumtaz Begum Jahan Dehlavi, is the second Bollywood actress to be honored this way, the first being Nargis Dutt. Among some of the other movie celebrities who have had this honor bestowed, are, Satyajit Ray, Dadasaheb Phalke, Guru Dutt, Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh and Madhubala’s husband - singer Kishore Kumar.

In a career that spanned about 25 years and 70 films, Madhubala achieved immortality through her hauntingly exquisite screen presence, a mesmerizingly beautiful memory that graced the oldies of 1950s and 1960s. That kind of charm and that kind of class made her into a timeless figure in Bollywood, that timelessness laced with the tragedy of a life shadowed by a dominant father, saddened by broken romance, and shortened by an untreatable heart ailment.

An Afghan beauty who became India’s heartthrob, Madhubala is now officially honored by the country her father adopted. Madhubala’s memories, however, have been stamped deep into our hearts long before government of India was reminded of her.


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4 Comments so far

  1. naren on March 19, 2008 7:59 am

    As wonderful as this is; I hate to think of millions trying to lick the stamp with her picture on it. With the disfunctional state of rice/other sticky material provided in the post offices, at the closing hours of evening; we may hear a frustrated customer looking at the stamp and singing-
    ‘Ye shyaam-ki tanhaaiyan- aise me tera GUM’!

  2. mangesh on March 19, 2008 8:05 am

    gfdg

  3. JAGDDISH G. DIXIT on March 20, 2008 6:21 pm

    DEARST,
    VERY WELL WRITTEN…
    ** CAN NOW BE OWNED BY EVERY ONE **
    ** HAVE BEEN STAMPED DEEP INTO OUR HEARTS BEFORE ……. **
    I HAVE GONE THRO THIS SUBJECT ON ALL THE WWW BUT YOUR IS THE BEST.
    FINALLY, IF YOU FIND TIME TO REPLY PLEASE DO SO … hum to tiktiki lageya bethe hai.
    Aap ka
    Jagddish Dixit NAIROBI KENYA.

  4. Candy Pena on November 7, 2009 2:22 pm

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