When Madhubala asked Dilip Kumar 'Tum mujhe yaad karte ho ya nahin?' during his visit to the hospital in her final days before he married Saira Banu

In the twilight of her life, the ethereal beauty and legendary actress Madhubala lay frail in a hospital bed at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital. Her heart, once full of dreams and stardom, was now weighed down by pain and the slow erosion of time. Yet, her spirit remained luminous, clinging to the last threads of hope, memories, and love.

According to her younger sister Madhur Bhushan, Madhubala, affectionately known as "Apa" at home, battled not just illness but emotional agony. “She was worried for our parents,” Madhur told Filmfare. “She had bought a property in Pali Hill, which my father, in time of need, sold to actress Sadhna. That property proved to be unlucky for Sadhna too. She developed an eye problem after that.”

Despite being given just two years to live after her diagnosis, Madhubala fought bravely for nine. “Often, Apa would cry saying, ‘I want to live, I don’t want to die,’” Madhur recalled. Those around her witnessed this fierce desire for life—a longing that perhaps stemmed from all that she still yearned for: more films, more time, more love.

During one of her hospitalizations, Madhubala asked to meet the man who had once been the great love of her life—Dilip Kumar. Though their relationship had ended years ago in heartbreak, its echoes lingered.