Rekha: The divine diva

Dinesh Raheja

It was the premiere of Sawan Bhadon (Navin Nischol, Ranjeet) at Mumbai's Novelty cinema in September 1970. 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. A bouffant with stiff kiss curls and a profusion of ringlets completed the unlikely picture. An amazed Shashi Kapoor uttered in disbelief, "How is this dark, plump and gauche actress ever going to make it?"

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.

Rekha became famous and made Jennifer's prophecy come magnificently true.

Gulzar's Ghar (1978) heralded the arrival of a mature Rekha. Her archetypal jubilance was replaced by her very realistic portrayal of a traumatised rape victim. In the same year, she wooed enthusiastic crowds with the chartbusting Salaam-e-ishq in Prakash Mehra's Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (one of her many portrayals of courtesans) and stole the show from Rakhee with her sympathetic role.

Rekha's peak years as an actress were indubitably 1980 and 1981; she had an unbroken string of artistic and/or box-office success. She dazzled in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Khubsoorat, a film that gave full play to her talent for impersonation and dead-on timing. A hat-trick of melodramatic hits with Jeetendra and director T Rama Rao (Judaai, Maang Bharo Sajna and Ek Hi Bhool), combined with important roles in Saawan Kumar's Saajan Ki Saheli (Rajendra Kumar, Nutan, Vinod Mehra) and Ramesh Talwar's Basera (Shashi Kapoor, Rakhee), made her the box-office queen. Yash Chopra's Silsila (Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bachchan) and Muzaffar Ali's Umrao Jaan (Farooque Shaikh, Naseerudin Shah) put her into an exalted league.

Her performance as an emotionally unfulfilled courtesan in Umrao Jaan was her crowning achievement. It won her the National Award for Best Actress.

Strangely, her career dovetailed thereafter. Sridevi stormed into the scene in 1983 and Rekha was increasingly sidelined till she made an affirmative comeback with her avenging angel role in Rakesh Roshan's Khoon Bhari Maang (1988). Her performance won her Filmfare's Best Actress Award.

An ill-advised marriage to businessman Mukesh Agarwal plunged Rekha into the darkest phase of her life after he allegedly committed suicide. But the success of K C Bokadia's Phool Bane Angaarey (1991) soon thereafter ensured that her love affair with the audience continued uninterrupted.

Since then, Rekha has played the remorseless don in Umesh Mehra's Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996), the acquisitive housewife in Basu Bhattacharya's Aastha (1997), the patient first wife in Khalid Mohamed's Zubeidaa (2001), the rebellious social worker in Rajkumar Santoshi's Lajja (2001) and the cold stepmother in Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002). Today, in-demand directors like Ram Gopal Verma (Bhoot) and Rakesh Roshan (Koi Mil Gaya) have cast her in pivotal roles in their films.

Though she lives alone in her sea-facing Bandra bungalow, Rekha's recent avowals of her belief in love reveal an evolution of thought. As she says, "For a woman to be complete, she has to be a blend of Paro and Chandramukhi [the two women who love Devdas]. I feel that I am that woman."