Rekha

Bhanurekha Ganeshan was born in 1954 in Madras (now Chennai ) from Tamil actor Gemini Ganeshan and Telugu Pushpavalli film actress. The girl’s parents were not married, the father left her mother when their daughter was still small ^[2] .

Rekha made her film debut in 1966 in the Telugu film directed by B.N. Reddy Rangula Ratham when she was only 12 years old. She followed in the footsteps of her parents at the request of her mother, although before that she dreamed of becoming a stewardess. By signing the first contracts, Rekha dropped out of school to concentrate on her acting career and help the family with her earnings ^[3] . She was still a teenager when she began acting in several films in parallel. Due to the busy schedule, she felt herself deprived of her childhood.

In 1969, she made her adult debut in the film on the Kannada Operation Jackpot Nalli CID 999 paired with actor Rajkumar, a popular actor in Karnataka . In 1970, after learning Hindi , the actress made her Bollywood debut in the movie Sawan Bhadon . The film was a commercial success, and Rekha became famous. ^{[4] [5]}

This period marked the beginning of a change in her appearance. She began to pay much attention to makeup and clothing and worked to improve her acting and pronunciation in Hindi. To lose weight, she followed a diet, led a regular, disciplined life, and practiced yoga to improve her fitness.

In 1981, the film " Dear Umrao " was released, which is an adaptation of the novel of the same name, where she played a courtesan and a poetess. The film was a commercial success, and her performance of the role brought her many awards, including the National Prize .

In 1988, the film " Thirst for Revenge " was released, the plot of which repeats " Return to Eden ." For playing the role of the ugly woman who went for plastic surgery for revenge, Rekha received the second prize for Best Actress, as well as the nickname of “Angry Woman” ^[6] .

In 2014, Rekha agreed to star in the movie Fitoor , but left the project for an unknown reason, and instead, the actress Tabu played the role. In the same year, the film Super Nani was released , where her heroine from an ordinary woman with the help of her grandson turns into a glamorous model ^[7] .

The last film with her participation at the moment is “Shamitabh”, where she acted as herself ^[8] .

During her career, Rekha has starred in more than 180 films.

Rekha married only in 1990 for businessman Mukesh Agarwal. The actress's husband had a suicidal tendency, and while Rekha was in London in 1991, after several unsuccessful previous attempts, Agarwal committed suicide by leaving a note: “Don't blame anyone”. After this tragedy, she no longer married ^[9] .

But back in the late 1970s, she had a long affair with Amitabh Bachchan , who by that time was already married to another actress - Jaya Bhaduri. Rekha knew that he would not leave his family for her, the whole country discussed their relationship, but this did not stop the lovers ^[10] . In 1982, Amitabh received a serious injury on the set and spent several weeks in a coma. After leaving the coma, he decided to part with her and returned to his family ^[11] .

Now Rekha lives in his house in Mumbai, along with his nephew Navid and a devoted friend and secretary Farzana ^{[12] [13]} .

Over the course of her career, Rekha has starred in at least 183 films.

Vocals

• 1981 - Filmfare Award for Best Actress - " Beauty "
• 1982 - National Film Award for Best Actress - “ Dear Umrao ”
• 1985 - Association of Bengal Film Journalists Award for Best Actress - “ Festival ”
• 1989 - Filmfare Award for Best Actress - “ Thirst for Vengeance ”
• 1997 - Filmfare Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role - “ The King of Players ”
• 2003 - Filmfare Award for Lifetime Achievements
• 2010 - Padma Sri ^[14]

• Rekha on the Internet Movie Database