Bollywood veteran actress Rekha is known for her extraordinary career and unmatched beauty. Her films include ‘Silsila’, ‘Judaai’, ‘Koi Mil Gaya’, and many more.
Rekha is celebrating her 67th birthday today and we wish her a wonderful and blessed day.
Bollywood enthusiasts know Rekha has been involved in quite the scandals. Actor Anupam Kher once said, “She’s become the national vamp,” and since then, the tag stuck. Take a look at 6 lesser known controversies the actress has had in the past!
1. Rekha’s Take On The ‘Affair’
The infamous alleged affair between Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan is known by generations. The two made the audiences’ favourite on-screen pair but rumour had it, they were secretly seeing each other despite Amitabh already being married to Jaya Bachchan.
However, Rekha did in fact give out a slightly controversial statement when asked about the affair. Sourced from a report, she said, “If you can kill your desire and stick to someone in spite of knowing that this person loves somebody else, staying under the same roof. It shows strength. I know it must be terrible for his wife, but there is nothing I can do. Ye image hai na – of being a seductress and home breaker. If I would have been the wife I would have felt the same way. But I would have killed the other woman!”
2. Jaya Slapping Rekha
Jaya Bachchan had apparently SLAPPED Rekha in public on the sets of ‘Ram Balram’ movie. When Jaya had gotten to know that her husband and Rekha were cast together in ‘Ram Balram’, she tried to get Rekha replaced with Zeenat Aman. However, Rekha managed to convince the producer (Tito Tony) and director (Vijay Anand) to not drop her by offering to work for free! Moreover, Amitabh too refused to reject the film. So, Rekha ended up paired with Big B, while Zeenat was cast opposite Dharmendra.
When the shooting started, Jaya Bachchan landed on the ‘Ram Balram’ set for a visit and spotted Rekha-Amitabh speaking in private. A livid Jaya then reportedly slapped Rekha in front of the entire cast and crew! Amitabh left the set immediately, not knowing how to react.
3. Rekha’s forceful KISS
While shooting her debut film Anjana Safar, Rekha was a little under 15 years old. That didn’t stop the director Raja Nawathe from scheduling a kiss scene, without informing Rekha. Action was said and actor Biswajit Chatterjee leaned in for the kiss. The scene apparently lasted five minutes and Rekha was shocked. As per a report, later on, Biswajeet explained the situation saying, “It was not for my enjoyment, but important for the film. Rekha felt betrayed and was furious.“
4. Rekha & Her Secretary
In Rekha’s biography. author Yasser Usman also mentioned slight details of Rekha possibly having a relationship with her female secretary Farzana. Apparently, it is only Farzana who is permitted inside the actress’s bedroom, not even the domestic help.
Farzana has been with Rekha for over 3 decades now. While Rekha has called the former her ‘soul sister’, it is alleged by many that the two are in a secret relationship. This also leads to the assumption that Rekha is indeed bisexual.
5. Rekha’s Late Husband’s Affair
The actress was married to Mukesh Aggarwal in 1990 but seven months later, Mukesh had committed suicide. The two were on their honeymoon in London when Rekha reportedly found out that he was linked romantically with another man.
He apparently said, “There’s an AB in my life too.” The AB he referred to happened to be Akash Bajaj, his psychiatrist whom he wanted to marry.
6. Rekha’s Take On Filming Sexual Scenes
Amidst all the rumoured affair talk, Rekha also once expressed her opinion on filming love scenes. However, her statement turned quite many heads and received mixed opinions.
She said, “You can’t come close, really close, to a man without making love. It is sheer fluke that I have never got pregnant so far. I am not just an actress, but I am a badnaam actress with a rotten past and a reputation for being a sex maniac.”
