Excerpts from Rekha’s biography

Be it wearing sindoor fearlessly to an award function or shooting a steamy scene with a co-star who is almost 20 year younger to her to grabbing all the attention by hugging Jaya Bachchan while Amitabh getting awarded for his outstanding performance, Rekha has always been untamed, spontaneous, strong and fearless.

Yasser Usman’s latest ‘Rekha – The Untold Story’ has revealed many secrets of the over-speculated life of the diva.

Here are 5 such instances that will leave you longing for more…

Pushpavalli’s daughter defied the conventional heroine mould and broke many Bollywood stereotypes. She was dark-skinned, had a 33-inch waist and didn’t speak any Hindi. Only a month old and four films in hand. The new city and a new life also came with a new name for Bhanurekha Ganesan, a name without a surname. All her films had the same name in the credit roll for lead actress: Rekha.

Rekha was finally getting married. When evening fell, she wore her favourite red-and-gold Kanjeevaram sari with exquisite jewellery. The junior temple priest (Mukhteshwar Devalaya) Sanjay Boda, had already gone to sleep in his little room behind the temple. Mukesh woke him up and told him that he had to get married immediately. The confused priest looked at Rekha and was stunned. Though the temple was not allowed to be opened after the evening aarti, and the priest was not supposed to solemnize the wedding, the rules were broken that night.

At Beach Appartments, Rekha and Jaya would often meet. Rekha affectionately called Jaya ‘Didibhai’, and frequently went over to Jaya’s flat to spend time with her. The latter would advise her on life and career. It was there that Rekha first met Jaya’s boyfriend, Amitabh Bachchan.

Jaya and Amitabh got married on June 3, 1973. Rekha, however, was not invited, which left her feeling sour. In an interview she said, “In spite of all her affectionate show of friendship and all that, she didn’t even bother to invite me for her marriage – and my house was in the same building.”

I asked the film-maker Muzaffar Ali why he cast Rekha in Umrao Jaan, when there were arguably better actresses like Smita Patil around. Pat came the reply, ‘Her eyes conveyed the experience of having been broken and then having pulled herself together. She has that strength, that striking feature which draws from her past.’

Excerpted from Rekha - The Untold Story by Yasse Usman, is available in bookstores and on the Juggernaut app.