Rekha

Biography

Rekha Ganeshan, popularly known by her stage name Rekha, is one of the most successful Indian actresses to appear in Bollywood and South Indian movies. After making her debut as a child artist in 1966, she went on to star in many commercially successful movies.

 In a career that spanned over four decades, the actress appeared in over 150 films, which also include appearances in arthouse films. She immortalized the character of the courtesan Umrao Jaan from the 1981 movie of the same name and also won a National Award for her role as well. In 2010, the Government of India honored her with Padma Shri - India’s fourth highest civilian award.
 

Rekha was born to the successful Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan, and Pushpavalli, a Telugu actress. She was enrolled at the Church Park Convent School in Chennai. Rekha endured a troubled childhood as her father disowned her, and refused to acknowledge his paternity; her mother raised her as a single parent. The actress has one real sister, five half-sisters, and one half-brother.

In 1973, Rekha was rumored to have been married to her co-star Vinod Mehra, however, the actress later denied the same. In the early 1980s, it was also revealed that Rekha was secretly having an affair with actor Amitabh Bachchan and received a lot of criticism as Bachchan was married to actor Jaya Bachchan.

 In 1990, Rekha married Mukesh Aggarwal, a Delhi-based businessman. However, only after a year of their marriage, Aggarwal committed suicide.

In the 1980s, the on-screen chemistry of Rekha and Amitabh reached to point where the couple was reported to be in a relationship off-screen. This being one of the biggest talking points of Bollywood at that time, acclaimed director Yash Chopra went on to cast the couple in his romantic drama Silsila.

 In the movie, Rekha essayed the role of Amitabh’s love interest, while his real-life wife, Jaya Bachchan portrayed Amitabh’s on-screen wife. Deemed as one of the most scandalous films of the era, the film was a commercial success but also marked the end of Rekha-Amitabh on-screen pairing; Silsila was the last film they worked together.

Rekha next starred in the movie Umrao Jaan (1981), directed by Muzzafer Ali, and won the National Award for her performance as a courtesan. Following this, she went on to act in similar roles later in her career. 

By 1983, Rekha had established herself as the top actress of Bollywood and then also set foot in arthouse cinema - known as Parallel Cinema in India. She appeared in movies such as Kalyug (1981), Vijeta (1982), Utsav (1984), and Ijaazat (1987).
 

By the mid-90s it was evident that Rekha’s choice of movies led to her downfall but the actress further went on to accept controversial roles as well. Her role in Mira Nair’s highly controversial erotic drama Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996), Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996) opposite Akshay Kumar, and Aastha (1997) met with positive reviews at the box office. 

The next decade saw her accepting various supporting roles; her roles in Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lajja (2001) and Rakesh Roshan’s Koi Mil Gaya (2003) are two of her most promising roles of the decade.

 The 2000s saw her appear in several movies such as Bachke Rehna Re Baba (2005), Kudiyon Ka Zamana Hai (2006), Yatra (2007), and Sadiyaan (2010) - all of which were box office disasters. Rekha last appeared in a cameo role in R. Balki’s Shamitabh released in 2015.