Bollywood’s legendray actress Rekha turns 62 today. Known for her varied roles in films like “Muqaddar Ka Sikandar”, “Khubsoorat”, “Silsila”,“Utsav”, “Khoon Bhari Maang”, Rekha has touched heigts stardom that very few Indian actressed ever had.
Recognizing her immense contribution to Indian cinema, the government of India awarded her the Padma Shri, India fourth highest civilian honour.
She is a jewel to Bollywood, her enigma never fades away and her beauty seems to be untouched with each passing year. She has been a part of many hit movies in her career that spanned 40 years.
Here we bring to you a few facts about Rekha, who dominated Bollywood for a long time with her films, her relationships, and her popularity among fans.
Rekha bunked 'Kaarnaama' shooting
Superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha's alleged affair never gets old. Though, both the stars chose to remain tight-lipped about their link up, they were definitely much more than co-actors.
And now, we have some real juice which proves that they regarded each other very highly. According to actor Ranjeet, who is famous for his bad boy image in the industry, Amitabh Bachchan was the reason Rekha walked out of his directorial ‘Kaarnaama'.
We all remember the 1990 movie, ‘Kaarnaama' as one which starred actors Vinod Khanna, Farha and Amrish Puri. Few know that this was not the initial cast of the movie. Ranjeet wanted to have Rekha and Dharamendra in the movie.
In an interview to a leading daily Ranjeet revealed that the entire first schedule of the movie was an evening shift. But, the leading actress Rekha had some other plans.
“One day Rekha called and requested if I could move to a morning shift as she wanted to spend evenings with Amitabh Bachchan,” Ranjeet exposed.
Due to this he had to delay the movie while on the other hand Dharamendra also got busy with other commitments.
“Dharamendra suggested Anita Raaj instead of Rekha, but I finally made the movie with Vinod Khanna and Farah,” he further added.
Rekha’s triumphant journey to Bollywood:
Rekha was born to Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan and Telugu actress Pushpavalli. Her father didn't acknowledge her paternity during childhood.
Though Rekha never dreamed of becoming an actress, yet the poor financial status of her family forced her to step into the big, bad world of Bollywood.
Initiallty Rekha worked in B and C grade Telugu flicks. She had seven brother and sisters, but no one was close enough to her.
The actress revealed that when she returned home dead tired after work, her brother used to force her to go out for more work.
Rekha was a big fan of Mumtaz and Jeetendra. She loved Mumtaz's dance and used to imitate her acting skills in front of mirror.
During her initial years, Rekha wasn't considered well in her looks and was criticised as an 'ugly duckling'.
In an interview Rekha said that because of her dark complexion and south Indian features she was considered an ugly duckling in Bollywood.
She was determined to change people's attitude towards her and she did. In the late 70s she went through a transformation, courtesy Amitabh Bachchan, and later emerged as a sex symbol.
She became choosy while selecting the flicks and in 1976 flick “Do Anjaane” was considered as a ‘performance-oriented' flick of Rekha. Her transformed look and attitude was loved by the spectators.
Rekha’s married life:
In 1990, Rekha married to industrialist Mukesh Aggarwal. He committed suicide after a year of marriage, when she was in the United States at that time.
People close to her describe this as the toughest time of her life, as questions were raised like what led Mukesh to suicide just within one year of their marriage? Weren't they happy together? After Mukesh's suicide
Rekha shifted to Bandstand house in Mumbai Bandra west. But she is rarely seen inside or outside the house.
Achievements:
In 2012, the 62-year-old actress was nominated as Rajya Sabha member with cricketer Sachin tendulkar. While she was taking oath, the cameras constantly focussed on Jaya Bachchan.
Like Big B, Jaya too tries not to come across Rekha. So when she came to know about Rekha getting the seat just besides her, Jaya changed her seat, while two years back they were both seen hugging each other at a launch of a book in Mumbai.
In 2010, Rekha was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri for her contribution to Indian cinema.
Her milestone performance in ‘Umraojaan' won her National Film Award.
