An evening with Madhubala – The Tribute!!

Cool and cloudy Sunday evening and what better than to listen to some good old songs that Madhubala enacted on the silver screen. If you are a fan of Madhubala, even while you read the first line you are already feeling that you need to figure out or collect all the information on how, where, when to attend such a concert that would promise only and only acoustic delight in the form of old melodies. I was blessed with such a golden opportunity. Thought of sharing my experiences with everyone and the best way of achieving it, I feel, is to pen down these. So here I am.

The concert…
Brief history
It was named “Madhurbala”, after, of course, some “madhur” melodies of Madhubala. Concert began with a brief history of how the actress entered the world of cinema and glamour with Bombay Talkies and how she managed to fascinate people from the tender age of 14. Mr. Ashok Hande, the person who managed the show, talked about the plethora of movies that were successful at the box office that included the likes of Mahal, Naya Daur, Mr and Mrs 55, Chalti ka Naam Gadi and last but not the least, Mughal-E-Azam, practically her last movie. I could hear people, sitting behind and in front of me, taking names of the movies that I haven’t heard of and they were upset that narrator didn’t mention those names. But I guess it was hard to please the populace as almost everyone was a hard core fan of Madhubala like my parents seemed to be. For me, I was content with Chalti ka Naam Gadi and Mughal-E-Azam as I had watched these movies; Mughal-E-Azam being the personal favorite, after all, a milestone movie in the Indian Cinema. Frankly speaking, at first, I was a bit skeptical on attending the concert and noticing people of age greater than 45 years around you isn’t quite encouraging, but I knew if the show is on Madhubala, the script of the show would certainly contain “Pyar kiya to darna kya….” I could have been more than happy to only hear that song being performed even at the stake of not knowing the other songs and the risk of getting bored as the program progressed. Also, my parents wanted to give me a taste of old wine and I didn’t want to be stubborn by saying NO. (Between, Old wine was just a phrase; such beverages don’t go well with me and my familyJ).

The songs, the singers and the co-stars
After the brief history on Madhubala, the choir started with the songs they had planned for the evening. The musical journey began with “Ayega, Ayega, Ayega, Ayega aane wala, ayega” a song from the film Mahal (1949), picturized on Ashok Kumar and sung by our very own, Nightingale of India, yes, Lata Mangeshkar. It’s amazing to note the period for which didi has been singing. Coincidently, I was watching this concert sitting in “Dinanath Mangeshkar Hall”, named after her father. The second in line was “Achcha ji mein hari chalo maan jaao na…” from the film Kala Pani (1958) that featured evergreen hero of Indian Cinema, Mr. Dev Anand. Again, the singers, who enchanted Indians for decades had sung this song, Asha Bhosale and Mohammad Rafi. It was good that along with the singers singing, the video of songs were also being projected. This song was particularly liked by the audience and the singers were kind enough to answer the “Once More” requests of the audience. I was thrilled by now and I felt that I had made the right decision to be present at the show. Then there were some songs from the films like Naya Duar, Daulat, Mr and Mrs 55, Apradhi, Pujari , Naqab, Raj Hath, Jwala, Sang dil and Madhubala (yes, it’s the name of the film.) All these were from an unknown world to me, but still I enjoyed a few of them instead of feeling alienated. Basically the songs were from movies that would cover almost all the co-starts of Madhubala like Shammi Kapoor, Kishore Kumar, Bharat Bhushan, Sunil Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, Pradeep Kumar and of course Dilip Kumar, arguably the best actor of that time.
“Aaiye meherbaan…” a song from Howrah Bridge (1958) and “paanch rupaiya bara aana” from Chalti ka naam gaadi (1958) charged me up after the lull in between. As the club dancer in Howrah Bridge, Madhubala never looked more beautiful or alluring as she swayed to the seductive notes of Aaiye Meherbaan. Kishore Kumar with all his annoying acting brilliance was a perfect match to the resplendent Madhubala, I feel. As audience, we all knew the show won’t end unless songs from Mughal-E-Azam were not sung. It was just a matter of time as we all were set and ready for it. Patience paid when the choir started singing the famous kavvalli “tere mehfil mein kismet aazma kar hum bhi dekhenge”. The dialogues from the film after the kavvali were shown on the screen and the renowned conversation between Madhubala and Dilip Kumar stating “kanton ko murjhana ka ghum nahi hota jahan panha” was spoken almost by everyone including me along with Anarkali (Madhubala) on the screen. The song of Bade Ghulam Ali from the same movie that used for depicting the love between Salim and Anarkali was also portrayed. Mr. Ashok, the narrator happened to tell us that Dilip Kumar and Madhubala were not on talking terms when this movie was being shot. Having said that, the performances from both the actors in the movie was phenomenal. You would agree with me if you have had the chance of watching the film. It was time for “Pyaar kiya toh darna kya…” the most awaited one of lot. The song started with “Insaan is duniya mein…” and everyone started applauding, hence manifesting their extreme interest. It was a reason for revelry for some. Apparently, people had some or the other memories associated with the song. The audience started enjoying every thing about the song, right from Tabla, flute, sitar, every harkat the singer took well. The milieu should only be experienced as it cannot be explained. It was a moment of pride for the singer to have sung this song, quite clearly visible on her face. Shivers went through my spine when the acoustic effect was used for portraying the mirror scene from the movie where all the mirrors on the roof of Akbar’s palace could only show Anarkali dancing. The song ended with a standing ovation and hence was the end to the fantastic evening.

After thoughts
Obviously, I enjoyed the evening. But, when I reflect, Madhubala was born in 1933 and my parents some 15-16 years after her birth. And she died in 1969, 40 years ago. Even after four decades, people wanted to reminisce about her? You need to be really good for that, I believe.
Also, one more interesting thing was: A family who sat near us, in the auditorium, had members representing four generations. The songs, each one of them enjoyed, were different. But the point is the knowledge and the interest still persists.
Just a passing thought, when I grow up sixty, would I be able to eye-witness a show like this with my grand children, in the honor of “Madhubala” of our generation?? Make no mistakes, she would be Madhuri Dixit. It doesn’t matter if you disagree. J