![]() Rekha may not have trained as a classical dancer, but she could do all the filmi jhatkas with consummate ease. Luckily for Rekha, filmmakers and audiences responded to her namkeen (saucy) appeal - a term Meena Kumari used to describe her. She reportedly bunked shooting to spend time with her boyfriends Kin Kin (Kiran Kumar) and Vin Vin (Vinod Mehra) or her many friends, including the ailing Meena Kumari. But she was too young to understand the responsibilities that come with stardom and stories of her truancy in the early 1970s are well known. Her first release, Sawan Bhadon (1970), was a smash success and she became an instant star. The novice was made to kiss Biswajeet on her very first day of shooting for Anjaana Safar and the shot, though censored, made it to the cover of Life magazine. School was not a major attraction for the young Rekha anyway. Family finances spiralled into a mess and she had little choice but to opt for films. The daughter of south Indian film stars Gemini Ganesan and Pushpavalli, Rekha had a materially privileged but peripatetic childhood. Even after three long decades in the industry, she remains a glamour icon for the couture cognoscenti.īut Rekha's 33-year-long journey to her current position as Queen Bee emeritus, the doyenne of the philosophical sound bite, has been paved with several potholes and strewn with emotional landmines. Moreover, Rekha became the original makeover miracle. She went on to do more films as a heroine than any other Hindi film actress. Rekha became famous and made Jennifer's prophecy come magnificently true. His wife Jennifer nevertheless recognised the inexplicable star quality within the south Indian teenager and prophesised that she would be the darling of the masses for years to come. An amazed Shashi Kapoor uttered in disbelief, "How is this dark, plump and gauche actress ever going to make it?" A bouffant with stiff kiss curls and a profusion of ringlets completed the unlikely picture. Slack-jawed shock jolted the guests as they caught sight of the film's debutant heroine - a dusky, obese 16-year-old whose 33-inch waist strained against a gaudy, black-and-blue sequined gharara. It was the premiere of Sawan Bhadon (Navin Nischol, Ranjeet) at Mumbai's Novelty cinema in September 1970. ![]()
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