Madhubala: Queen of Apsaras

Madhubala, the queen of black and white cinema, set the bar which forever served as a challenge for all other heroines. Madhuri came closest to her charm and beauty.

It was ot all blakc-and-white though. Here she is in probably the most famous song of hers, dancing as Anarkali in front of Emperor Akbar with Dileep Kumar as Saleem.



Like most beautiful heroines later, Madhubala tagged along with Kishore Kumar a relatively small hero for her movies (Madhuri did that with Anil Kapoor, while Karishma Kapoor with Govinda, though calling Karishma beautiful is stretching the truth a teeny weeny bit). Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi was one of the best comedies of Kishore Kumar's and the song Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhagi Si stays a cult classic.



It's easy to forget that Ashok Kumar was a young hero at a time given his long career as dada muni. Here's Madhubala doing a Helenesque Aaiye Meherban with him and K N Singh.



It's no wonder that the remix generation fell back to Madhubala's songs. Here's her Ek Ajnabi which has been remade several times since!



Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi had several beautiful songs. The combination of Kishore's comedy and Madhubala's beauty was able to make a song like Paanch Rupaiya Barah Aana so popular!



Here's Madhubala in Ruk Jao Na Jee in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi.



Evergreen Dev Anand has acted with a wide range of heroines but he never looked as good with someone as he did with Madhubala. Here he is in Kaala Paani with Madhubala singing Achchha Ji Mai Haari.



Madhubala left us in 1969 but her posters are still the most popular today just as they were when she was being called out by Bharat Bhushan in this song - Jo Baat Tujhme Hai.