Mumbai, Mar 10 (IANS): The evergreen Madhubala at one point dated Dilip Kumar and Prem Nath simultaneously, according to a new book released on the life and times of Bollywood legend Dilip Kumar.

Drawing from grapevine rumours of the time, Trinetra Bajpai and Anshula Bajpai's book "Dilip Kumar: Peerless Icon Inspiring Generations" (publisher: Bloomsbury) records how Madhubala started dating Prem Nath before she met Dilip Kumar.

It so happened that Madhubala started seeing Prem Nath, with whom she was working in the film "Badal". Their romance, however, ended when Prem Nath came to know that Madhubala was interested in Dilip Kumar as well.

Dilip Kumar and Prem Nath were good friends since the time they worked in "Aan". According to the book, when Prem Nath came to know that his friend Dilip "was seriously involved with Madhubala and that she was drawn to him as well", he withdrew from the relationship.

Prem Nath would eventually get married to Bina Rai. Meanwhile, Madhubala's romance with Dilip Kumar was fated to be doomed, too. Most people aver that Madhubala's father Attaullah Khan did not approve of the romance, because she was the sole breadwinner of a big family and he feared marriage to Dilip Kumar would mean she would stop working in films, thereby cutting off the family's only income source.

The book however, has a different contention. At the height of the Dilip Kumar-Madhubala romance, the book suggests, Attaullah Khan wanted Dilip Kumar to star opposite his daughter in a film he wished to produce. The book adds that Attaullah also wanted Dilip Kumar to work exclusively on priority for his banner. This was, naturally not acceptable to Dilip Kumar, who otherwise was keen to marry Madhubala if she agreed to stop working in films after settling down.