REKHA: THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL

Celebrity biographies often prove to be the most sought after reads because of the amount of spice they carry. From their secret affairs to the even more hushed break-ups, the biographies are the most authentic source for fans to know about their favourite stars.

Recently, Rekha’s biography ‘Rekha: An Untold Story’ by Yassir Usman created quite a stir as it carried some extremely shocking and jaw-dropping revelations about her private and professional life. This book unveils a lot about the most famous and starry extra-marital affair of that time between the superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha, while he was still married to Jaya Bachchan.

Rekha discloses how Jaya broke down during the screening of Muqaddar Ka Sikander when the romantic scene bewteen Rekha and Amitabh appeared. She also states that it was Jaya who brought an end to their relationship when one fine day, she learnt that Amitabh won’t do any more films with her. Rekha had already received this news from the others, but she was waiting for Amitabh to personally come and inform her about this new development. But Amitabh never came. When confronted, Amitabh confirmed the news but asked her not to question him any further.

Rekha openly voiced her opinion about how being an ‘other woman’ is so much better than being a wife because the man wants her in spite of having a wife. This just proves that the tag of ‘other woman’ that she had got while dating Amitabh never really bothered her.

She disclosed the disturbing details about her forced kiss with Biswajeet when she was just fifteen years old. “The shooting of Anjana Safar was underway in Bombay’s Mehboob Studio. Raja Nawathe was the director and cinematographer of the film. In the very first schedule of the film, Kuljeet Pal (the director), Raja and Biswajeet (the lead actor) had hatched a plan, with Rekha as the unsuspecting victim. That day a romantic scene was to be filmed between Rekha and Biswajeet. 

Every last detail of the strategy had been decided before the shoot. As soon as the director Raj Nawathe said ‘action’, Biswajeet took Rekha in his arms and pressed his lips on hers. Rekha was stunned. This kiss had never been mentioned to her. The camera kept rolling; neither was the director ordering ‘cut’ nor was Biswajeet letting go of her. For all of five minutes, Biswajeet kept kissing Rekha. Unit members were whistling and cheering. Her eyes were tightly shut but they were full of tears.”

The book has all the details about her marriage with businessman Mukesh Agarwal, who later committed suicide. The ill-treatment by Vinod Mehra’s mother just after their marriage and how she was projected in a black light after her affair with Amitabh became public.

Rekha is known to be extremely forthcoming and outspoken; she is equally open-minded as well. No girl would ever think about speaking out loud about the kind of issues she spoke about back then. In an interview, she said some extremely bold statements like “You can’t come close, really close to a man without making love”, “It is a sheer fluke that I have never got pregnant so far”, “Premarital sex is very natural”. Her roller-coaster life has been carefully captured in those few pages and that’s what makes it an intriguing read.