When Kishore Kumar admitted he was ‘never in love’ with Madhubala: ‘To me, she was my friend Dilip Kumar’s girlfriend but..."

When Kishore Kumar admitted he was ‘never in love’ with Madhubala: ‘To me, she was my friend Dilip Kumar’s girlfriend..."

This year, in 2025, as we celebrate Madhubala’s 92nd birth anniversary, a 1989 magazine feature offers a rare glimpse into one of Hindi cinema’s most talked-about yet mysterious marriages. The piece revisited Kishore Kumar’s candid reflections on his relationship with Madhubala. Though Kishore had already passed away in 1987, the magazine quoted from one of his older interviews that shed light on their bond.

By the late 1950s, Madhubala was already hailed as the most beautiful actress of her time. Her on-screen pairing with Kishore Kumar was electric, especially in Chalti Ka Naam Gadi (1958), Jhumroo (1961), and Half Ticket (1962). Fans adored their chemistry, but many wondered what drew the two together off-screen, given their contrasting personalities and the shadows cast by Madhubala’s earlier relationship with Dilip Kumar.

The Filmfare feature revealed Kishore Kumar’s startlingly direct words: “I was never in love with Madhubala. To me, she was my friend Dilip Kumar’s girlfriend and I used to act as a messenger for the two. It was she who proposed marriage to me and even insisted on it. Incidentally, even when Ruma was with me Madhu used to joke, ‘Never ever leave him, else I would take your place".

Their marriage, however, endured through some of the toughest years of Madhubala’s life. Diagnosed with a congenital heart condition, she was advised against having children. Her health steadily declined, but Kishore remained by her side. Though the relationship wasn’t free of turbulence, their bond lasted until her death in 1969, marking nine years of companionship under extraordinary circumstances.

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Madhubala’s beauty and tragic fate have often overshadowed the complexities of her personal choices. Kishore Kumar’s honesty, preserved in the Filmfare archives, strips away layers of myth and reveals a story that was as much about friendship, loyalty, and circumstance as it was about love.

Madhubala’s final years were marked by suffering. Confined largely to her bed, she endured constant pain and struggled with the limitations imposed by her fragile heart. On February 23, 1969, at just 36 years old, she passed away in Bombay. The news devastated the film industry and left millions of fans mourning a life cut tragically short. For many, her untimely death cemented her legacy as Indian cinema’s eternal beauty, gone too soon.