South Indian Actress List Biography
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Critics noted Rekha for having worked hard to perfect her Hindi and acting, and media reporters often discussed how she had transformed herself from a "plump" duckling to a "swan" in the early 1970s. Rekha's credits to this transformation were yoga, a nutritious diet, and a regular, disciplined life. In 1983, her diet and yoga practice were published in a book called "Rekha's Mind and Body Temple".[24]
In 1981, she starred in Umrao Jaan, a film adaptation of the Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada (1905), written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa. Rekha played the title role of a courtesan and poetess from 19th century Lucknow. The film follows Umrao's life story right from her days as a young girl named Amiran when she is kidnapped and sold in a brothel. Rekha once confessed, "After reading the script, I had a strange feeling that I had Umrao in me." In preparation for the role, Rekha, who at the beginning of her career did not speak Hindi, took the task of learning the finer nuances of the Urdu language.[12] Director Muzaffar Ali later noted that "Rekha has given more than my conception of the role."[19] The response to her work was universally positive. Her portrayal is considered to be one of her career-best performances, and she was awarded the National Film Award for Best Actress for it.[16][25] She played a courtesan with a heart of gold in several of her films; Muqaddar Ka Sikandar and Umrao Jaan were followed by a number of films which had her playing similar roles.
In that same year, Rekha starred in Ramesh Talwar's family drama Baseraa, which saw her playing a woman who marries her sister's husband, after the latter loses her mental balance. She appeared as Sadhna in the commercially successful Ek Hi Bhool (1981), opposite Jeetendra, playing the role of a betrayed wife who leaves her husband. In 1982, she received another Filmfare nomination for Jeevan Dhaara, in which she played a young unmarried woman who is the sole breadwinner of her extended family. In 1983, she took the supporting role of a lawyer in Mujhe Insaaf Chahiye, garnering another Filmfare nomination in the Supporting Actress category.
During this period, Rekha was willing to expand her range beyond what she was given in mainsteam films. She started working in arthouse pictures with independent directors, mostly under Shashi Kapoor's production, in what was used to be referred to as parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and neo-realism. Her venture into this particular genre started off with Umrao Jaan, and was followed by other such films as Shyam Benegal's award-winning drama, Kalyug (1981), Govind Nihalani's Vijeta (1982), Girish Karnad's Utsav (1984) and Gulzar's Ijaazat (1987), among others. Benegal's Kalyug is a modern-day adaptation of the Indian mythological epic Mahabharat, depicted as an archetypal-conflict between rival business houses. Rekha's role was that of Supriya, a character based on Draupadi. Benegal said he decided to cast her in the role after seeing her work in Khubsoorat, besides noticing that she was "very keen, very serious about her profession".[19] Critic and author Vijay Nair described her performance as "a masterful interpretation of the modern Draupadi".[26] In Vijeta she played a woman who struggles through her marital problems and tries to support her adolescent son, who, undecided about his future plans, eventually decides to join the Indian Air Force.[16] She described her performance in the film as one of her favourite from her own repertoire. For her portrayal of Vasantsena in Utsav, an erotic comedy based on the fourth-century Sanskrit play Mrichhakatika (The Little Clay Cart), she was acknowledged as the Best Actress (Hindi) of the year by the Bengal Film Journalists' Association. Maithili Rao wrote for "Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema", "Rekha – forever the first choice for the courtesan's role, be it ancient Hindu India or 19th-century Muslim Lucknow – is all statuesque sensuality..."[27] In Gulzar's drama Ijaazat, Rekha and Naseeruddin Shah star as a divorced couple who meet unexpectedly for the first time after years of separation at a railway station, and recall together their life as a married couple and the conflicts which brought to their ultimate split.
Apart from parallel cinema, Rekha took on other increasingly serious, even adventurous roles; she was among the early actresses to play lead roles in heroine-oriented films, one such film being Khoon Bhari Maang in 1988. She won her second Filmfare Award for her performance in the film. Rekha went on to describe Khoon Bhari Maang as "the first and only film I concentrated and understood all throughout."[28] One critic wrote about her performance in the film, "Rekha as Aarti is just flawless and this is one of her best performances ever! In the first half as the shy and not so sexy Aarti she is excellent and after the plastic surgery as the model and femme fatale she is excellent too. Some scenes show that we are watching an actress of a very high calibre here."[29] M.L. Dhawan from The Tribune, while documenting the famous Hindi films of 1988, remarked that Khoon Bhari Maang was "a crowning glory for Rekha, who rose like a phoenix ... and bedazzled the audience with her daredevilry."[30] Encyclopædia Britannica's Encyclopædia of Hindi Cinema listed her role in the film as one of Hindi cinema's memorable female characters, noting it for changing "the perception of the ever-forgiving wife, turning her into an avenging angel."[31] In a similar list by Screen magazine, the role was included as one of "ten memorable roles that made the Hindi film heroine proud."[32]
In later interviews, Rekha often described the moment she received the Filmfare Award for this role as a turning point, explaining that only then did she start genuinely enjoying her work and seeing it as more than "just a job": "...when I went up on the stage, and received my award for Khoon Bhari Maang... Boom, it hit me! That's the first time I realised the value of being an actor and how much this profession meant to me." In 2011 she further stated, "I felt even more charged to give my best and knew right then, that this was my calling, what I was born to do, to make a difference in people's lives, through my performances."[33][34]
1990s
The 1990s saw a drop in Rekha's success. She was part of several commercially and critically unsuccessful films, in spite of doing even more challenging roles. Critics, however, noted that unlike most of the actresses of her generation, like Hema Malini and Raakhee, who began playing character parts of mothers and aunts, Rekha was still playing leading roles at the time when heroines such as Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit rose to fame.[12]
Some of her most notable films during the decade include Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996). Kama Sutra, a foreign production directed by Mira Nair, was an erotic drama and many felt it would damage Rekha's career, as Rekha played a Kama Sutra teacher in the film.[3] Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi, an action film directed by Umesh Mehra, was a major financial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films of the year.[35] It featured Rekha in her first negative role as Madam Maya, a vicious gangster woman running a secret business of illegal wrestling matches in the US, who, during the course of the film, romances the much younger Akshay Kumar. Her portrayal earned her several awards, including the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Star Screen Award for Best Villain. In spite of the positive response to her performance from both fans and critics, she often maintains she did not like herself in the film, noting that her work was not up to her own, personal standards.[36][37]
Another controversial film at that time was Aastha: In the Prison of Spring (1997), where Basu Bhattacharya, making the last film of his career, cast her as a housewife who moonlights as a prostitute. While her performance earned her positive notices and a Star Screen Award nomination, she was criticised by the audience for the nature of the part, to which she later replied, "...people had a lot to say about my role... I don't have problems playing anything. I've reached a stage where I could do justice to any role that came my way. It could be role of a mother, a sister-in-law; negative, positive, sensational or anything."[38]
2000s
In the 2000s, Rekha appeared in relatively few movies, usually in supporting mother roles. She started the decade with Bulandi, directed by Rama Rao Tatineni.
In 2001, Rekha appeared in Rajkumar Santoshi's feminist drama Lajja, an ensemble piece inspired by a true incident of a woman being raped in Bawanipur two years before.[39] The film follows the journey of a runaway wife (Manisha Koirala) and unfolds her story in three main chapters, each one presenting the story of a woman at whose place she stops. Rekha was the protagonist of the final chapter, around which the film's inspiration revolves, playing Ramdulari, an oppressed Dalit village woman and social activist who becomes a victim of gangrape. Speaking of the film, Rekha commented, "I am Lajja and Lajja is me".[40] Highly praised for her portrayal, she received several nominations for her work, including a Best Supporting Actress nomination at Filmfare. Taran Adarsh wrote that "it is Rekha who walks away with the glory, delivering one of the finest performances the Indian screen has seen in the recent times."[41][42]
In Rakesh Roshan's science-fiction film Koi... Mil Gaya, Rekha played Sonia Mehra, a single mother to a developmentally disabled young man, played by Hrithik Roshan. The movie was a financial and critical success and became the most popular film of the year; it won the Filmfare Award for Best Movie, among others.[43] Rekha received another Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Filmfare for her performance, which Khalid Mohamed described as "astutely restrained".[44]
In Bachke Rehna Re Baba (2005), Rekha played a con woman who, along with her niece, uses one scheme to rob men of their property. The film was a major critical failure.[45] Mid Day remarked, "why Rekha chose to sign this film is a wonder," noting that she is "riddled with bad dialogue, terrible cakey makeup and tawdry styling".[46] This was followed in 2006 by Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana, a poorly-received sex comedy about four female friends and their personal troubles. In a scathing review, Indu Mirani noted that "Rekha hams like she was never going to do another film."[47] In a 2007 article by Daily News and Analysis, critic Deepa Gahlot directed an advice to Rekha: "Please pick movies with care, one more like Bach Ke Rehna Re Baba and Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana and the diva status is under serious threat."[48]
In 2006, she reprised the role of Sonia Mehra in Krrish, Rakesh Roshan's sequel to Koi... Mil Gaya. In this superhero feature, the story moves 20 years forward and focuses on the character of Sonia's grandson Krishna (played again by Hrithik Roshan), whom she has brought up single-handedly after the death of her son Rohit, and who turns out to have supernatural powers. Krrish became the second-highest grossing picture of the year and, like its prequel, was declared a blockbuster.[49] It received mostly positive notices from critics, and Rekha's work earned her another Filmfare nomination in the supporting category. Ronnie Scheib from Variety noted her for bringing "depth to her role as the nurturing grandmother".[50]
In 2007, she once again portrayed a courtesan in Gautam Ghose's Yatra. Unlike the initial success she experienced in playing such roles in the early stages of her career, this time the film failed to do well. In 2010, Rekha was awarded the Padma Shri, the 4th highest civilian award given by the Government of India.
Rekha has also been nominated as a Rajya Sabha member. She currently is the member of the Rajya Sabha (May 2012).[51]
Personal life
In 1990, Rekha married Delhi-based industrialist Mukesh Aggarwal. A year later—while she was in the US—he committed suicide, after several previous attempts, leaving a note, "Don't blame anyone".[52] She was pilloried by the press at that time, a period which one journalist termed as "the deepest trough in her life."[53] She was rumoured to have been married to actor Vinod Mehra in 1973, but in a 2004 television interview with Simi Garewal she denied being married to Mehra referring to him as a "well-wisher". Rekha currently lives in her Bandra home in Mumbai.[54][55]
Source(Google.com.pk)
Critics noted Rekha for having worked hard to perfect her Hindi and acting, and media reporters often discussed how she had transformed herself from a "plump" duckling to a "swan" in the early 1970s. Rekha's credits to this transformation were yoga, a nutritious diet, and a regular, disciplined life. In 1983, her diet and yoga practice were published in a book called "Rekha's Mind and Body Temple".[24]
In 1981, she starred in Umrao Jaan, a film adaptation of the Urdu novel Umrao Jaan Ada (1905), written by Mirza Hadi Ruswa. Rekha played the title role of a courtesan and poetess from 19th century Lucknow. The film follows Umrao's life story right from her days as a young girl named Amiran when she is kidnapped and sold in a brothel. Rekha once confessed, "After reading the script, I had a strange feeling that I had Umrao in me." In preparation for the role, Rekha, who at the beginning of her career did not speak Hindi, took the task of learning the finer nuances of the Urdu language.[12] Director Muzaffar Ali later noted that "Rekha has given more than my conception of the role."[19] The response to her work was universally positive. Her portrayal is considered to be one of her career-best performances, and she was awarded the National Film Award for Best Actress for it.[16][25] She played a courtesan with a heart of gold in several of her films; Muqaddar Ka Sikandar and Umrao Jaan were followed by a number of films which had her playing similar roles.
In that same year, Rekha starred in Ramesh Talwar's family drama Baseraa, which saw her playing a woman who marries her sister's husband, after the latter loses her mental balance. She appeared as Sadhna in the commercially successful Ek Hi Bhool (1981), opposite Jeetendra, playing the role of a betrayed wife who leaves her husband. In 1982, she received another Filmfare nomination for Jeevan Dhaara, in which she played a young unmarried woman who is the sole breadwinner of her extended family. In 1983, she took the supporting role of a lawyer in Mujhe Insaaf Chahiye, garnering another Filmfare nomination in the Supporting Actress category.
During this period, Rekha was willing to expand her range beyond what she was given in mainsteam films. She started working in arthouse pictures with independent directors, mostly under Shashi Kapoor's production, in what was used to be referred to as parallel cinema, an Indian New Wave movement known for its serious content and neo-realism. Her venture into this particular genre started off with Umrao Jaan, and was followed by other such films as Shyam Benegal's award-winning drama, Kalyug (1981), Govind Nihalani's Vijeta (1982), Girish Karnad's Utsav (1984) and Gulzar's Ijaazat (1987), among others. Benegal's Kalyug is a modern-day adaptation of the Indian mythological epic Mahabharat, depicted as an archetypal-conflict between rival business houses. Rekha's role was that of Supriya, a character based on Draupadi. Benegal said he decided to cast her in the role after seeing her work in Khubsoorat, besides noticing that she was "very keen, very serious about her profession".[19] Critic and author Vijay Nair described her performance as "a masterful interpretation of the modern Draupadi".[26] In Vijeta she played a woman who struggles through her marital problems and tries to support her adolescent son, who, undecided about his future plans, eventually decides to join the Indian Air Force.[16] She described her performance in the film as one of her favourite from her own repertoire. For her portrayal of Vasantsena in Utsav, an erotic comedy based on the fourth-century Sanskrit play Mrichhakatika (The Little Clay Cart), she was acknowledged as the Best Actress (Hindi) of the year by the Bengal Film Journalists' Association. Maithili Rao wrote for "Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema", "Rekha – forever the first choice for the courtesan's role, be it ancient Hindu India or 19th-century Muslim Lucknow – is all statuesque sensuality..."[27] In Gulzar's drama Ijaazat, Rekha and Naseeruddin Shah star as a divorced couple who meet unexpectedly for the first time after years of separation at a railway station, and recall together their life as a married couple and the conflicts which brought to their ultimate split.
Apart from parallel cinema, Rekha took on other increasingly serious, even adventurous roles; she was among the early actresses to play lead roles in heroine-oriented films, one such film being Khoon Bhari Maang in 1988. She won her second Filmfare Award for her performance in the film. Rekha went on to describe Khoon Bhari Maang as "the first and only film I concentrated and understood all throughout."[28] One critic wrote about her performance in the film, "Rekha as Aarti is just flawless and this is one of her best performances ever! In the first half as the shy and not so sexy Aarti she is excellent and after the plastic surgery as the model and femme fatale she is excellent too. Some scenes show that we are watching an actress of a very high calibre here."[29] M.L. Dhawan from The Tribune, while documenting the famous Hindi films of 1988, remarked that Khoon Bhari Maang was "a crowning glory for Rekha, who rose like a phoenix ... and bedazzled the audience with her daredevilry."[30] Encyclopædia Britannica's Encyclopædia of Hindi Cinema listed her role in the film as one of Hindi cinema's memorable female characters, noting it for changing "the perception of the ever-forgiving wife, turning her into an avenging angel."[31] In a similar list by Screen magazine, the role was included as one of "ten memorable roles that made the Hindi film heroine proud."[32]
In later interviews, Rekha often described the moment she received the Filmfare Award for this role as a turning point, explaining that only then did she start genuinely enjoying her work and seeing it as more than "just a job": "...when I went up on the stage, and received my award for Khoon Bhari Maang... Boom, it hit me! That's the first time I realised the value of being an actor and how much this profession meant to me." In 2011 she further stated, "I felt even more charged to give my best and knew right then, that this was my calling, what I was born to do, to make a difference in people's lives, through my performances."[33][34]
1990s
The 1990s saw a drop in Rekha's success. She was part of several commercially and critically unsuccessful films, in spite of doing even more challenging roles. Critics, however, noted that unlike most of the actresses of her generation, like Hema Malini and Raakhee, who began playing character parts of mothers and aunts, Rekha was still playing leading roles at the time when heroines such as Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit rose to fame.[12]
Some of her most notable films during the decade include Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996). Kama Sutra, a foreign production directed by Mira Nair, was an erotic drama and many felt it would damage Rekha's career, as Rekha played a Kama Sutra teacher in the film.[3] Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi, an action film directed by Umesh Mehra, was a major financial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films of the year.[35] It featured Rekha in her first negative role as Madam Maya, a vicious gangster woman running a secret business of illegal wrestling matches in the US, who, during the course of the film, romances the much younger Akshay Kumar. Her portrayal earned her several awards, including the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Star Screen Award for Best Villain. In spite of the positive response to her performance from both fans and critics, she often maintains she did not like herself in the film, noting that her work was not up to her own, personal standards.[36][37]
Another controversial film at that time was Aastha: In the Prison of Spring (1997), where Basu Bhattacharya, making the last film of his career, cast her as a housewife who moonlights as a prostitute. While her performance earned her positive notices and a Star Screen Award nomination, she was criticised by the audience for the nature of the part, to which she later replied, "...people had a lot to say about my role... I don't have problems playing anything. I've reached a stage where I could do justice to any role that came my way. It could be role of a mother, a sister-in-law; negative, positive, sensational or anything."[38]
2000s
In the 2000s, Rekha appeared in relatively few movies, usually in supporting mother roles. She started the decade with Bulandi, directed by Rama Rao Tatineni.
In 2001, Rekha appeared in Rajkumar Santoshi's feminist drama Lajja, an ensemble piece inspired by a true incident of a woman being raped in Bawanipur two years before.[39] The film follows the journey of a runaway wife (Manisha Koirala) and unfolds her story in three main chapters, each one presenting the story of a woman at whose place she stops. Rekha was the protagonist of the final chapter, around which the film's inspiration revolves, playing Ramdulari, an oppressed Dalit village woman and social activist who becomes a victim of gangrape. Speaking of the film, Rekha commented, "I am Lajja and Lajja is me".[40] Highly praised for her portrayal, she received several nominations for her work, including a Best Supporting Actress nomination at Filmfare. Taran Adarsh wrote that "it is Rekha who walks away with the glory, delivering one of the finest performances the Indian screen has seen in the recent times."[41][42]
In Rakesh Roshan's science-fiction film Koi... Mil Gaya, Rekha played Sonia Mehra, a single mother to a developmentally disabled young man, played by Hrithik Roshan. The movie was a financial and critical success and became the most popular film of the year; it won the Filmfare Award for Best Movie, among others.[43] Rekha received another Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Filmfare for her performance, which Khalid Mohamed described as "astutely restrained".[44]
In Bachke Rehna Re Baba (2005), Rekha played a con woman who, along with her niece, uses one scheme to rob men of their property. The film was a major critical failure.[45] Mid Day remarked, "why Rekha chose to sign this film is a wonder," noting that she is "riddled with bad dialogue, terrible cakey makeup and tawdry styling".[46] This was followed in 2006 by Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana, a poorly-received sex comedy about four female friends and their personal troubles. In a scathing review, Indu Mirani noted that "Rekha hams like she was never going to do another film."[47] In a 2007 article by Daily News and Analysis, critic Deepa Gahlot directed an advice to Rekha: "Please pick movies with care, one more like Bach Ke Rehna Re Baba and Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana and the diva status is under serious threat."[48]
In 2006, she reprised the role of Sonia Mehra in Krrish, Rakesh Roshan's sequel to Koi... Mil Gaya. In this superhero feature, the story moves 20 years forward and focuses on the character of Sonia's grandson Krishna (played again by Hrithik Roshan), whom she has brought up single-handedly after the death of her son Rohit, and who turns out to have supernatural powers. Krrish became the second-highest grossing picture of the year and, like its prequel, was declared a blockbuster.[49] It received mostly positive notices from critics, and Rekha's work earned her another Filmfare nomination in the supporting category. Ronnie Scheib from Variety noted her for bringing "depth to her role as the nurturing grandmother".[50]
In 2007, she once again portrayed a courtesan in Gautam Ghose's Yatra. Unlike the initial success she experienced in playing such roles in the early stages of her career, this time the film failed to do well. In 2010, Rekha was awarded the Padma Shri, the 4th highest civilian award given by the Government of India.
Rekha has also been nominated as a Rajya Sabha member. She currently is the member of the Rajya Sabha (May 2012).[51]
Personal life
In 1990, Rekha married Delhi-based industrialist Mukesh Aggarwal. A year later—while she was in the US—he committed suicide, after several previous attempts, leaving a note, "Don't blame anyone".[52] She was pilloried by the press at that time, a period which one journalist termed as "the deepest trough in her life."[53] She was rumoured to have been married to actor Vinod Mehra in 1973, but in a 2004 television interview with Simi Garewal she denied being married to Mehra referring to him as a "well-wisher". Rekha currently lives in her Bandra home in Mumbai.[54][55]
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
South Indian Actress List Hot Photos Pictures Images Pics Wallpapers
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