Hindi Movie Actress Madhubala in Her Room - Photographed by James Burke in 1951

Madhubala (1933 - 1969) was one of the great and talented Hindi movie actresses of 1950's-60's. She acted in many successful and classic Hindi movies like Mahal (1949), Mr. & Mrs. '55 (1955), Howrah Bridge (1958), Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Mughal-E-Azam (1960), Half Ticket (1962).

These personal and rare photographs were taken by James Burke for Life Magazine. The Life archive hosted by Google wrongly documented the date of these photographs as 1941, but probably these photos were taken in 1951.

Source: Life Archive hosted by Google

A girl in the village of Bachhai, India - 1955

Photographs taken by United Nations

This is a neat photo of a girl in the village of Bachhai, India, in 1955. The caption talks about a development project around the Damodar river system.

Source: ebay.com

Famous Tabla Player Pandit Chatur Lal in USA - December 1956

Chatur Lal (1925 - October 1965), was an Indian tabla player. Lal toured with Ravi Shankar, Aashish Khan, Vasant Rai, and Ali Akbar Khan in the 1950s and early 60s and helped popularize the tabla in Western countries.Chatur Lal was born 1925 in Udaipur, Rajasthan.Lal died in October 1965.
More about him in Wikipedia

Pandit Chatur Lal performing

Pandit Chatur Lal with Pandi Ravi Shankar in a light mood

Source: Life Archive hosted by Google

Pandi Ravi Shankar Performing in USA - December 1956

Pandit Ravi Shankar (playing Sitar) and Pandit Chatur Lal (playing Tabla) is performing together in USA.

Photographer: Paul Schutzer

Source: Life Archive hosted by Google

Streets of Old Delhi - 1954

The following pictures were made by Rodney Stich in 1954 in Old Delhi, India, while the plane was being loaded with 1600 monkeys to be flown to the United States for the Salk polio vaccine program.







Source

Travancore Sisters ( Padmini, Lalitha and Ragini)

Travancore Sisters refers to the trio of Padmini, Lalitha and Ragini who were actors, dancers and performers in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. They were active from late 1940's to early 1960's.
Know more about them in Wikipedia

Two of the Travancore sisters trio - Ragini and Padmini

Indian Family Photo - Jamshedpur 1957

Photograph taken by United Nations.

A note on the back of this picture:
This is a neat photo of a family scene in Jamshedpur, Bihar, India in 1957 at the home of an employee of the Tate Iron & Steel Co.

Handcolored Still photograph of the 1954 Movie Bilwamangal

Director: D.N. Madhok
Stars: Ulhas, Suraiya and Asha Mathur

IMDB

ebay.com

Lindsay Street - Calcutta (Kolkata) India - 1952

Source: ebay

Hindi Movie Actress Begum Para Outdoor Photoshoot by James Burke in 1951

These outdoor photographs of bollywood glamour girl  Begum Para were taken by Life Magazine photographer James Burke for Life Magazine. The Life archive hosted by Google wrongly documented the date of these photographs as 1941, but these photos were taken in 1951.

Know more about this forgotten actress in Cineplot.com
IMDB page of Begum Para

Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi on the Moscow Subway, USSR - 1955

Source: indiatimes.in

Portrait of Tara Dinkar Rayas - 1950's

Mr. Ganesh Dinkar Rayas from Surat, Gujarat contributed this photograph of his mother. Read below his note:
Late Smt. Tara Dinkar Rayas, Konkani speaking Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin, from Chitrapur (Shirali) village of North Karnataka, It seems the photo taken in the years between 1951 and 1955

Girls walk through flood waters on a road near Calcutta (Kolkata) as they carry drinking water in containers from distant places - 1959

Source: ebay

Marriage of Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali - 1955

Premnath and Bina Rai with newly wed couple Shammi and Geeta

Source: mid-day.com