Rekha

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her schooling from the Popular Church Park Convent school in Chennai and her mother tongue is Telugu though she speaks Hindi, Tamil and English fluently. She is a love child of her parents who were not married during her birth and for years did not acknowledge his paternity during the time she was born. He was a much married man and she has step sisters and step brother. In one of her personal interviews she revealed that she was a neglected child and she quit her schooling to start a career in the filmline. Though she did not have any personal aspirations to become an actress but due to the troubled childhood as well as financial problems she was compelled to take up the film career.

Bhanurekha Ganesan better known by her screen name Rekha , noted for her versatility started her career with Telugu film Rangula Ratnam as the child artist in 1966. Her debut as an Adult actress was in the Kannada film Operation Jackpot Nalli C.I.D 999 with Rajkumar in 1969. The same year she did the film with Biswajit which got shelved for a few years due to the controversial kissing scene that didn’t go too well with the Censorship. And the film was released much later in the year 1979 re titled as Do Shikaari. The Greta Garbo of the Indian Cinema Rekha has since then acted over 180 films in a career span of over 40 years.. She has often played strong women oriented films . Rekha has to her credit films not only in the mainstream cinema but has also acted in Art films known as the parallel cinema. In the same year as 1970 she had two film releases the Telugu Film Amma Kosam and the Hindi Film Sawan Bhadon which was considered to be her acting debut in Bollywood. The film was a hit and overnight Rekha was a Star. She subsequently got many more offers mostly of a glamour girl. She got her commercial success in her films like Raampur Ka Lakshman in 1972 and Kahani Kismat Ki in 1973 followed by Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye in 1974.She took the Industry by surprise for Rekha was a plump girl with a dark complexion and wore garnish clothing contradicting the norms of the Hindi Cinema . The period marked the beginning of Rekha’s Transformation. Motivated to change her appearance and she starte with improving her choice on her films that she took up depending on the roles she was asked to pay. Determined to make it big. She paid attention to her make-up, changed her wardrobe to suit the current trends, worked on her Hindi spoken skills and refined her acting techniques and to improvise further on her personality she followed a nutritious diet led a disciplined life, practiced Yoga and believed in physical fitness. The swift change in her screen personality as well as her style in acting floored the audience and she began choosing her films tactfully which were more of the women oriented roles that came way to her from the year 1976 . Since then there was no looking back for the dusky actress. Her first film a performance oriented role came with her first film with Amitabh Bachchan as the greedy wife in Do Anjaane . An Adaptation of a Bengali Novel Ratrir Yatri, the film was directed by Dula guha and it gained reasonable success with the audience and critics alike. Her next most significant role was of her portraying the wife and rape victim in 1978 in the film Ghar. Wherein she plays the newly married woman who is gang raped with Vinod Mehra as the loving husband who helps her through the struggles of recuperation and the character’s struggle to get through that emotional trauma. Her acting in this film was considered to be her first milestone in her film career , much applauded by both the audiences and the critics. With this film Rekha also got ready for matured films She received her first Filmfare Awards for Best Actress for this film. In the same year she attained fame with the film Muqaddar ka Sikandar a multistar film with Amitabh Bachchan . The film was a super hit film with some of the most melodious songs and the film was a biggest hit of the decade and Set Rekha on a pedestal of being the most successful actresses of those times. In this film she has acted as the courtesan named Zorro and her role is intense and she earned her the nomination for Filmfare Best Supporting Actress for this film. In 1980, in the film Khubsoorat, Rekha has appeared in a comedy role directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and the role was specially written keeping her in mind. She plays a young vivacious woman who brings joy with her bubbly nature , more like her real life character. The film was a great success and Rekha was appreciated for her comic entry . It won her the Film Fare Award for Best Actress. Rekha’s transition from a plump dark girl to a sleek accomplished actress, she was noticed by leading film makers who were keen to cast her in their forthcoming films. Rekha went on to act opposite to the superstar Amitabh Bachchan in number of films most of which were super hit. It is also alleged that she and Amitabh Bachchan had an off screen relationship which was widely reported by the media and also criticized as he was married by then to Jaya Bachchan and was a family man with two children. It is said the relationship ended with their last performance together in 1981 for the Yash Chopra’s drama film Silsila. The film revolved around the scandalous of their affair and Rekha played Bachchan’s love interest while his real wife played his wife in the film. During this period Rekha expanded her horizon beyond from mainstream to the Art film with independent directors . Her venture into the new wave movement called the parallel cinema startd with Umrao Jaan under Shashi Kapoor’s production house followed by more serious roles and serious films such as Shyam Benegal’s Award winning film Kalyug in 1981, Govind Nihalani’s Vijeta in 1982, Girish Karnad’s Utsav in 1984, Gulzar’s film Ijaazat in 1987 to name a few.. The audience and critics described her roles as master interpretation of the character she played . She is also given the title of being the ‘Encyclopaedia of the Hindi Cinema , An actress with sensuality. The Turning Point in the Actress Life. Apart from parallel cinema , Rekha took on more serious adventurous roles and was the early actress to play a lead in the women oriented film such as Khoon Bhari Maang in 1988, She won her second Filmfare Award for her performance in this film . Rekha as the flawless performer with the first of the film as a shy not so sexy Aarti and later in the second of the film she transforms herself with the plastic surgery as the Model and femme. She stole the entire film on her shoulders with both her roles to be known as the Actress with the highest caliber. Khoon Bhari Maang was like a crowning glory for the actress who rose to dazzle the audience once again with her diversity in her roles. The Sexy-oomph seductress With the kind of perception she plays the role of the forgiving wife to turning into an avenging Super model,the role was a turning point once again her film career. Upon receiving this Award she was further charged to give her best and knew this was her calling. Born to be the best and bring about a difference in her life and in her film career. Rekha is said to be a perfectionist and for her role in Umrao Jaan, she took to learning the Urdu for the nuance of the language to master and she delivered her dialogues with great finesse and confidence. Her role in this film is considered as one of the best performance and she was awarded the National Film Award for the Best Actress. She plays a courtesan with a heart of gold . She has played the role of courtesan in the film Muqaddar ka Sikandar which were similar roles. In the same year she starred opposite to Shashi Kapoor and Rakhee in Ramesh Talwar’s family drama Baseraa which saw her playing a role of a woman who marries her sister’s husband who has lost her mental balance. Followed by her roles in the films Ek Hi Bhool in 1981 with Jeetendara which was a commercial success for the family oriented film . She received another award of Nomination for the Best Actress for her film Jeevan Dhaara and a supporting role of a lawyer in the film Mujhe Insaaf Chahiye which got her the nomination once again in the supporting Actress category. In the early 1990’s Rekha had fewer films and was seen less on the screen and like most of her contemporaries she took to playing character parts typically of a mother or an aunt. She had continued to do a few more films as the main actress for a few films like Amiri Garibi, or Mera Pati Sirf Mera hai which went un-noticed. That was a period when she was still recovering from the shock of losing her husband in a suicide, Rekha regained her stardom with the film Phool Bane Angaray in 1998. The film was a super hit at the Box office and Rekha received the nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare Awards . She did several films after the success of this film. Her Royal Graciousness Followed by her dual role of twin sisters in Shakti Samanta’s Geetanjali opposite to Jeetendra and the title role in the box office disaster film Madam X in which she starred as the young woman hired by the police to impersonate a female underworld don. Halfway through her career, Rekha accepted the highly controversial film Kama Sutra- The tale of Love , a foreign production by Mira Nair was a film with erotic drama and the critics felt this was a damage to her screen persona she had created for herself over the years. In the film Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi an action packed film which was again a major success being one of the highest grossing films of that year. It featured Rekha in her first negative role as Madam Maya , a vicious gangster woman running a secret business of illegal wrestling matches in the USA and during the course of the story line is said to have romance with the young Akshay Kumar. Her role in this film won her the Filmfare Award for the Best Supporting Actress and the Star Screen Award for Best Villian. In spite of a negative role in this film she received positive response from both fans and critics. Another controversial film during the same year was Aastha – In the prison of spring, in 1997, directed by Basu Bhattacharya, making the last film of his career, cast Rekha as the housewife who moonlights as a prostitute for extra income . ther role earned her the Star Screen Award nomination though people had a lot to say about this role that was a bold approach . In the 2000’s Rekha started appearing relatively in a fewer movies and even if she did she acted in supporting roles that of a mother. Rekha appeared in the film Lajja inspired by a true incident of a woman being raped in Bawanipur and unfolds a story of women oppressed. Her role was powerful and was highly praised for her portrayal. It was once again a film with Rekha with a crowning glory delivering one of the finest performances in that film that won her the nomination of Best Supporting Actress at Filmfare Awards. Followed was the Science fiction entertainment film Koi Mil Gaya by Rakesh Roshan, Rekha plays a single mother’s role to a developmentally disabled young man, played by Hrithik Roshan. The film was a critical success and became one of the most popular films for the Children and it received the Filmfare Award for the Best Film . Rekha received once again the nomination for the Best Supporting Actress Award. In 2005, Rekha did a guest appearance in the song ‘ Kaisi Paheli Zindagani’ in Pradeep Sarkar’s Parineeta, and Con woman in Bachne Rehna Re Baba in the same year and a few films thereafter which were not much of significance. In 2006 she once again did a supporting role for the film Krrish, for Rakesh Roshan a sequel of Koi Mil Gaya.and won the nomination once again for the Best Supporting Actress for her role as the nurturing Grandmother. The other films that she has portrayed in a supporting role is Yatra in 2007, Sadiyaan in 2010, Fitoor in 2014 and Super Nani in the same year and Shamitabh in the year 2015 where she plays herself.