Father did not accept her, relationships also remained incomplete: Rekha had said – I have come into films not on my own will but due to fate.

Today is the 69th birthday of legendary actress Rekha. Although every Bollywood star has his own story, but Rekha is the character whose life people want to hear every story of. Let’s start this story of Rekha from her childhood.

Rekha was born to South actor Gemini Ganesan and actress Pushpavali. Pushpavali was not Gemini’s wife. Actually, when their relationship started, Gemini was already married. Pushpavali also did not divorce her husband. In such a situation, it was not acceptable for them to marry.

Rekha’s mother Pushpavali was a famous actress, who had done many films in Tamil and Telugu languages.

Gemini gave everything to Pushpavali, but could not give his name. This was the reason that when Rekha was born, she was called the illegitimate daughter of Gemini and Pushpavali. As a result, Rekha’s childhood passed without her father’s love. Rekha was schooled at the Presentation Convent School in Madras, the same school where Gemini Ganesan and his first wife’s children studied. Gemini would go to pick up his children every day, but he would ignore Rekha.

Meanwhile, Gemini’s affair started with co-star Savitri. Both of them also got married secretly. Pushpavali was devastated by this news. He broke all his relations with Gemini. The responsibilities of the family fell on his shoulders.

At this time 14 year old Rekha was understanding the situation of the family. On the insistence of his mother, he started working in films. Although she did not want to enter this field, but family compulsion pulled her. His inclination was towards dance and sports. She was seeing her future as an air hostess.

In an interview given to BBC, Rekha had said – I have come into films not of my own free will but after being beaten.

This picture is from Rekha’s childhood.

The beginning of Rekha’s film journey was not good. He had to work hard to get work in South Industry. The truth was that she was the daughter of Gemini Ganesan. Had his father’s shadow been on him, he would have easily got work in films. Gemini was not only an actor but also a businessman. His status in the industry was huge, all things were done at his one signal.

At the same time, using the surname Gemini was also a problem for Rekha. Many producer-directors were not offering him films due to fear of Gemini.

On the other hand, Rekha was also facing rejection because of her looks. His dark complexion, overweight and tom boy look also became a hindrance in getting work. Although after some time Rekha started getting small roles in films, but her mother’s dream was that Rekha should rule the film screen like her father.

Amidst this turmoil, film director and producer Kuljeet Pal came as a messiah. He was looking for a new face for his film Do Shikari. He came to Madras in that search. Here his eyes fell on Rekha on the set of a film. He liked Rekha’s features very much. The next day he reached Rekha’s house and offered her the film. Pushpavali agreed to this offer without thinking and came to the city of dreams Mumbai with Rekha.

For Rekha this city was like a jungle. He was suffocating here. When she came to the Bollywood industry, people used to make fun of her dark complexion. She was compared with the top actresses of that era. People were wondering what actress she would become.

However, later Rekha took these things in a positive manner and started working on herself. Rekha started focusing on her dress sense, makeup and losing weight and worked on speaking Hindi for 3 months.

Another story related to the film Do Shikari is that Rekha’s kissing scene was shot with the film’s actor Biswajeet. The director said that Rekha had full consent for the shooting of this scene, but it was not so. Rekha didn’t even know such a scene existed. When the shooting started, Biswajeet gave this shot to her, but Rekha was stunned by it. She gave the shot with her eyes closed, but she cried a lot. Although he did not oppose it. He was afraid that he might be thrown out of the film.

Due to this kissing scene the film got censored. For this reason this film was released in 1979. In this way, Rekha’s first release film was Sawan Bhadau.

Before Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha’s name was associated with actors Kiran Kumar and Vinod Mehra. But his relationship with both ended. Actually, both their families did not want Rekha to become the daughter-in-law of their house. He said that firstly Rekha is an illegitimate child and secondly she does not think anything before speaking in front of the media.

This outspokenness of Rekha distanced her from her loved ones. However, after some time she started avoiding giving frank statements. Love Story of Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan: Almost everyone knows how their love story started from the sets of the film Do Anjaane. For this reason he also remained in limelight. Their relationship ended due to a statement by Jaya. Jaya had told Rekha that she would never leave her husband Amitabh. Seeing this faith of Jaya, Rekha took her steps back and separated from Amitabh forever.

Very few people know that before her relationship with Amitabh, Rekha and Jaya were very good friends. Rekha and Jaya started their careers at almost the same time. The only difference between the two was that Jaya remained in the news because of her professional life and Rekha because of her personal life. After some films became hits, Rekha bought a flat in an apartment near Juhu in 1972. Jaya also lived in the same building.

After some time of living at the same place, there was a very good bonding between the two. Rekha used to lovingly call Jaya as elder sister. When Jaya and Amitabh’s relationship started, one day Jaya introduced Rekha to Big B. This was a very short meeting. Rekha did not even pay much attention to Big B.

After some time, Jaya and Amitabh Bachchan got married and from here the rift between Rekha and Jaya started. Jaya did not invite Rekha to her wedding. He felt very bad about this. At that time Rekha had told the media that she felt that Jaya was really in love with her. That is why she takes care of them, but it is not so. Jaya gives advice to every junior because she wants to humiliate others.

It is about 1975. Rekha was cast opposite Amitabh Bachchan in the film Do Zanjeer. At this time Rekha’s image was like the master of her will. She never came on time for shooting. It was very famous in the industry that if a director was casting him in a film, he was putting himself in trouble. In the beginning, even Big B was troubled by his actions. Once he also asked Rekha to come on time.

With time Rekha started getting attracted towards Big B. He started liking Big B’s perfection. Wanting to impress him, he completely changed himself. Started dieting, paid attention to fashion and understood the intricacies of makeup. She changed herself so much that even Amitabh could not stop her from loving him. On the other hand, the industry got a chance to see Rekha’s new look.

Note- All the facts related to this story have been taken from Rekha’s biography ‘Rekha: The Untold Story’.