Did Kishore Kumar accept Islam for the sake of Madhubala?

It was probably 1957 when the shooting of the film ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gadhi’ was going on. It stars Kishore Kumar, his elder brother Ashok Kumar and Anup Kumar as well as Queen Haasan Madhubala.

It is said that during the shooting of the same film, Kishore Kumar and Madhu Bala grew close and both vowed to be one forever.

The apparent reasons for their coming closer to each other were that Madhu Bala was physically and psychologically broken by his breakup with Dilip Kumar and heart disease. She longed for a good life partner.

There Kishore Kumar and his wife Roma Guha Thakurta were almost separated so they also needed a good companion.

On January 1, 1958, roughly three years after the release of ‘Chalti Ka Naam Ghadi’, when the two tied the knot, it is stated that Kishore Kumar converted to Islam for Madhu Bala’s sake and changed his name. Karim Abd and according to some statements, Abdullah kept.

Ramesh Dawar writes in his book ‘Bali: Yesterday’s Day to Day to Maru’ that ‘During the filming of Chalti Ka Naam Gadhi, Madhu Bala was inclined towards the famous singer-actor Kishore Kumar and eventually the two met in 1960. got married.’

Madhu Bala is said to have received marriage proposals from Bharat Bhushan, Pradeep Kumar, Shammi Kapoor and Kishore Kumar, but chose Kishore Kumar, who converted to Islam, to marry her. .’

Dr Piyush Roy in his book ‘Bollywood FAQ: All Date is Left to Know About the Greatest Film Story Never Told’ writes that after breaking up with Dilip Kumar, Kishore Kumar might be the only one for ‘Shaksta Dil’ Madhu Bala. There were people who could make them laugh.

Kishore Kumar converted to Islam to marry this Muslim actress and changed his name to Kareem Abd.

India-based magazine ‘Outlook’ published a special feature on Kishore Kumar’s 89th birthday in August 2018.

In this article, journalist and the then editor of the magazine Lachhmi Deb Rai describes Kishore Kumar’s conversion to Islam and changing his name to Karim Abdul as a fact of his life that few people can remember. are familiar

Manju Gupta, the author of ‘Madhubala: Her Real Life Story’ wrote with reference to Madhubala’s sister Shahida Qazi that ‘Apa (Dilip Kumar) fell in love with Premnath (Malhotra) from the film industry. This relationship lasted only six months. It was abolished on the basis of religion. Prem had asked Madhu to convert but he refused.’

Anees Amrohavi has written in his book ‘Wha Bhi Ek Zamana Tha’ that Kishore Kumar changed his name to Abdullah and not Karim Abd after accepting Islam.

‘The younger brother did not convert’

Madhu Bala’s younger sister Madhar Bhushan told E-Times (Entertainment Times) in a video interview in July this year that Madhu Bala and Kishore Kumar had a court marriage and it was not true that the latter had converted.

‘It is said about our father Attaullah Khan that he was a strict person. If they were strict, they would not have married our people of other dharma. I am married to a Hindu Punjabi. Altaf and concubine Fatima Balsara were born from a Parsi, Chanchal from a Punjabi and Madhu Apa from a Bengali.

Kishore Kumar was the epitome of ‘Three in One’ in Bollywood (Roop Kamal Company).

‘Our family is cosmopolitan,’ she says. We have people from all religions in our family. Attaullah did not oppose Madhu’s marriage to Kishore Kumar. Actually, my father had suggested that both of them get married after returning from London, but Kishore Bhai and Madhu Appa were not in favor of it.’

‘Both had a court marriage. There is no truth in what they say that Kishore Bhai became a Muslim. He was a Bengali Hindu and passed away as a Bengali Hindu. My father never insisted on anyone’s conversion. None of the people who married our sisters converted.’

According to Madhar Bhushan, it was in London that Madhu Bala had a hole in his heart.

‘He was not diagnosed by the doctors in Mumbai. When he came back from London, Kishore bhai came to my father and said that Madhu has a hole in his heart and there is no cure for it. My mother fainted after hearing this. All of us sisters started crying that what will happen now.

Kishore Bhai had also told that she would only live for two years now. Madhu was adamant about going to the shoot but Kishore Bhai said that it is not a joke. Rest for at least six months. He was then bedridden for nine years. We were in indescribable shock. We used to cry everyday. My father’s condition was changed.’

When Independent Urdu contacted Sushila Kumari, who wrote Madhubala’s detailed biography in Hindi titled ‘Madhubala: Dard Ka Safar’, she said: ‘At present I am unable to provide you with any details. I can neither give the book nor its soft copy.

‘Madhu Bala’s biopic is being made based on my book. It is being produced by Bollywood film producer Tutu Sharma. As this film covers every corner of Madhu Bala’s life, the producer has asked me not to talk to the media. You will definitely get the answer to your question after watching the movie.’

The Ganguly family did not accept Madhu Bala

Dr. Piyush Roy has written that Kishore Kumar’s parents did not attend the wedding ceremony and both performed the marriage rituals as per Hindu customs to please Kumar’s family (Ganguly family).

‘But despite all this, the Ganguly family never accepted Madhu Bala as their daughter-in-law. Within a month of marriage, she started living back in her father’s bungalow.

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However, Manju Gupta in her book denies the resentment of the Ganguly family as the reason for Madhu Bala’s return to his father’s house.

She quotes film writer and director Abrar Alvi as saying: ‘Madhu Bala returned to her father’s house because her weak heart was less than Kishore Kumar’s house, which was located very close to the airport. Couldn’t stand the sound of the planes flying high.’

‘She wanted to die as Sahagan’

Anees Amrohavi writes that the relentless work towards the completion of Mughal-i-Azam had hollowed Madhubala from the inside, and Madhubala, suffering from constant illness and frustration, married Kishore Kumar as a self-punishment. .’

‘Actually it was Madhu Bala’s wish to die as a Sahagan. Kishore Kumar also took Madhu Bala to London for treatment. But the doctors there refused to perform the heart surgery on her because they feared that Madhu Bala might die in the middle of the operation.

‘Gradually almost all the doctors responded. He kept vomiting blood and finally on February 23, 1969, the clock ticked when Madhu Bala, in a state of utter helplessness, told Kishore Kumar that I don’t want to die, save me. These were his last words and then only a few moments later, Madhu Bala, who revived the pomegranate bud of ‘Mughal Azam’, said yes to his real creator and closed his eyes for ever and ever.’

Ramesh Davar writes that Madhu Bala was born with a heart condition, but after being diagnosed with a hole in the heart, she showed bravery and kept her illness a secret from the industry for many years.

‘She often vomited blood while coughing on the set and was confined to bed for almost nine years. She was one of the most versatile actresses of her time. He acted in more or less 70 films in his film career.

“Kishor Kumar and Madhubala worked together in ‘Mahal Ke Khabaam’ in 1960, ‘Jhumro’ in 1961 and ‘Half Ticket’ in 1962.”

‘Kishore Kumar was a disaster’

Mahir Bose writes in his book ‘Bollywood: A History’ that if Kishore Kumar was a Bollywood big man on screen, he was ‘a disaster’ in his personal life.

‘He had four marriages. Divorced the first wife. Buried second wife beautiful Madhu Bala. The marriage with the third lasted only for a month and the fourth wife was just two years older than his son Ummat.

Anees Amrohavi, in his second book ‘Woh Jin Ki Yaad Aai Hai’, describes Kishore Kumar’s four marriages as follows: ‘From his first wife Roma Devi (Roma Guha Thakurta) he has a son, Amit Kumar, who is also a singer.

After his divorce from Ruma Devi, Kishore Kumar married Venus Madhu Bala of silver screen but they did not last long. After Madhu Bala’s death, Kishore Kumar married actress Yogita Bali, but the relationship did not last long and soon they got divorced.

Kishore Kumar also has a boy with his fourth wife actress Leena Chandavarkar. Apart from this, Kishore Kumar and actress Sulakshna Pandit had a romance for a long time. The news of both of them being tied in a sacred relationship like marriage was about to come, but due to the difference between the earth and the sky in the mood of both of them, they were separated from each other.

‘Took care of Madhu for nine years’

Four Legends Together: Kishore, Lata Mukesh, Rafi (Public Domain)

An interview with Kishore Kumar was published in the December 1987 issue of Shamma, a well-known semi-literary and film Urdu magazine of its time based out of Delhi. This interview was conducted by Idris Dehlavi, who wrote the regular film column in this magazine under the pen name of Musafar, who had close connections with personalities associated with the Hindi film industry.

The traveler (Idris Dehlavi) has written that once he took advantage of Kishore Kumar’s good mood and asked him about his wives, and the latter began to speak casually: ‘My first wife Roma (Roma Guha Thakurta) ) was After marriage, I realized that there is a lot of difference in our views. Roma was worried about her career as well as her home. Whereas I needed a life partner who would only take care of the house. I remained a simple villager, how could I bear the burdens of a wife who was more concerned about her career than home.

“To me, a wife means that she should take care of her husband, her home and her children, and it is also difficult for a single woman to carry out so many tasks at the same time with ease, that was the reason why Our ways parted.

‘During the time when I promised to marry Madhubala, she was also sick and when I got married, she was very sick. But I had promised marriage, so I fulfilled it. Although I was fully aware of the fact that the woman I am making my wife is a heart patient and every moment her life is moving towards death.

‘For nine years I took care of Madhu Bala. I watched him die before my eyes. As beautiful a woman as Madhu was, she led a tragic life, and so painful was her death.

How busy Madhu Bala used to be before the illness, but this busy woman remained bedridden for nine years and remained close to Madhu during all these years. Made her laugh, told her jokes so that Madhu, who was near death, would not realize that she had no one in this world.

‘I consider my marriage with Yogita Bali a joke. In my opinion Yogita did not take marriage seriously. She always cared about her mother instead of her husband and home. This was the reason why even after marriage she used to spend more time with her mother. Good thing we both changed our ways soon.

‘Leena Chandavarkar is also a film actress but the most separate, the most different. The sudden death of Leena’s first husband Siddharth Bandurkar changed Leena. She understood the meaning of life. This accident made Lena a picture of seriousness and poise. In the form of Lena, I found an ideal wife who always worries about me, home and children.’