Madhubala birthday: Madhubala’s real story is as tragic as her iconic character, Mughal-E-Azam’s Anarkali

There are two kinds of movie buffs who watch Mughal-E-Azam, arguably the greatest Bollywood film ever made. One, of course, watch it for the pure love and artistry of Mughal-E-Azam and the other watch it just for Madhubala. So intrinsic is the imagery of Madhubala in Mughal-E-Azam that we often forget that films on the same subject (based on a 1922 play called Anarkali by Imtiaz Ali Taj) had been made thrice before. Silent era star Sulochana played Anarkali twice (in 1928 and 1935) while in a 1953 version, Bina Rai was the bewitching courtesan in whose blind love Prince Salim, the future king of Hindustan, has raised the flag of revolt.