What Led To Dilip Kumar And Madhubala’s Breakup?

Dilip Kumar and Madhubala’s love story is legendary mainly because of its tragic end. The duo dated each other for nine years. They hit it off as a star couple in their very first film ‘Tarana’ in which Madhubala played an uninhibited village beauty in love with a visiting doctor (Dilip Kumar). By the time they did ‘Sangdil’, they were already considered a couple.

Then came ‘Naya Daur’ and BR Chopra replaced Madhubala with Vyajanthimala because the former’s father, Ataullah Khan forbade her from shooting outside Mumbai. Chopra had already given an advance to Madhubala and upon her failure to return it, the filmmaker filed a case in which Dilip Kumar sided with him, thus creating a rift in his relationship with the actress.

Dilip Kumar and Madhubala broke up in 1956 during the making of the cult classic Mughal-e-Azam. The film got completed in 1959 and all this while Dilip and Madhubala had to do romantic scenes while they did not see eye-to-eye in real life.

It is said she married singer Kishore Kumar on the rebound in 1960. By that time she was already suffering from ventricular septal defect (hole in the heart). She died at the young age of 36. Dilip Kumar went on to marry Saira Banu.