Madhubala

Madhubala was born as Mumtaz Jehan Begum Dehlavi in Delhi, British India, on 14 February 1933. She was the fifth of eleven children of Ataullah Khan and Aayesha Begum. At least four of Madhubala's siblings died as infants; her sisters who survived until adulthood were Kaneez Fatima (b. 1925), Altaf (b. 1930), Chanchal (b. 1934) and Zahida (b. 1949). Khan, who belonged to the Yusufzai tribe of Pashtuns from Peshawar valley, originating from Swabi District, North-West Frontier Province was an employee at the Imperial Tobacco Company. Unknown to her family members, Madhubala was born with a ventricular septal defect, a congenital heart disorder which had no treatment at the time.

Madhubala spent most of her childhood in Delhi and grew up without any kind of health issues. Owing to the orthodox ideas of their Muslim father, neither Madhubala nor any of her sisters except Zahida attended school. Madhubala nevertheless learnt Urdu, Hindi, as well as her native language, Pashto, under her father's guidance. An avid movie viewer since the beginning, she used to perform her favourite scenes in front of her mother and spend her time dancing and imitating film characters to entertain herself. In spite of her conservative upbringing, she aimed to become a film actor—which her father strictly disapproved of.

Khan's decision changed in 1940 after he got fired from his job for misbehaving with a senior officer. Madhubala's mother feared ostracism if they allowed their young daughter to work in the entertainment industry, but Khan remained adamant. Soon Madhubala was employed at the All India Radio station to sing compositions of Khurshid Anwar. The seven-year-old continued working there for months, and became acquainted with Rai Bahadur Chunnilal, the general manager of the studio Bombay Talkies, situated in Bombay. Chunnilal took an immediate liking towards Madhubala and suggested Khan to visit Bombay for better employment opportunities.