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Rekha (born October 10, 1954) is a
well-known Bollywood actress.
Early life
Born in
1954, in Madras, India, Bhanurekha Ganesan (later known
simply as "Rekha") is the daughter of renowned Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan
and the Telugu actress Pushpavalli. Her father hailed from an orthodox
Smartha Brahmin family belonging to the Mulukanadu sub-caste but chose to
take up acting as a profession. He enjoyed phenomenal success. Rekha was
to follow in his footsteps..
Rekha's parents were not married, and
her father did not acknowledge his paternity during her childhood. It was
during the early 1970s, when she was looking for a footing in the Bollywood
film industry, that she revealed her origins. Later, at the peak of her
career, Rekha told a magazine interviewer that her father's neglect still
rankled and that she had ignored his efforts at
reconciliation.
Film Career
Rekha appeared as a child
actor in the Telugu film Rangula Ratnam (1966). She took up
acting as a career with two films released in 1970: the Telugu film
Amma Kosam and the Hindi Sawan Bhadon, neither of which
were successful. She remained in Bollywood, struggling to find her footing
in an extremely competitive industry. She appeared in several successful
films, such as Kahani Kismat Ki, Raampur Ka Lakshman and
Pran Jaaye Par Vachan Na Jaaye, but first attained real fame in
1978 with Muqaddar ka Sikandar (1978), in which she co-starred
with Amitabh Bachchan. She went on to co-star with Amitabh in a number of
1980s hits. The most scandalous of these was Silsila, in which
she played Amitabh's mistress and Amitabh's real-life wife, Jaya Bhaduri,
played his wife.
She was rumoured to be Amitabh's real-life flame
and the film-column gossip may have contributed to her success. However,
even critics had to admit that she had worked hard to perfect her Hindi
and her acting, and that she had transformed herself from a "plump"
duckling to a "swan" in the early 1980s. Rekha credits this transformation
to yoga, a nutritious diet, and a regular, disciplined life.
After
her "Bachchan era", Rekha took on increasingly serious, even adventurous
roles. She starred in heroine-oriented films such as Khoobsoorat,
Khoon Bhari Maang, Umrao Jaan, and Mujhe Insaaf
Chaahiye. She was also willing to work with independent and "art
film" directors, in films such as Utsav, Basera, and
Ijaazat.
In recent years, she is has appeared in
relatively few movies, usually as a mother or a widow rather than a
glamour queen. She has won praise for her acting in films such as
Zubeidaa, Koi Mil Gaya and
Parineeta.
Awards
Rekha has won two Best
Actress and one Best Supporting Actress Filmfare Awards. She also won a
coveted National Award for her performance in Umrao
Jaan
Personal life
The young Rekha filled the gossip
columns with rumours of affairs with actors Jeetendra, Vinod Mehra, Kiran
Kumar, and Amitabh Bachchan. It is also alleged that she has fostered an
illegitimate child with Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. In 1990 she
married Delhi-based businessman Mukesh Aggarwal. He committed suicide in
1991. Rekha currently lives a secluded life in Mumbai.
*Entry at
IMDB
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