Rekha
Bollywood actress Rekha at 4th Annual Asia Spa Awards
Born	Bhanurekha Ganesan (1954-10-10) 10 October 1954 (age 57) Madras, Madras State, India
Occupation	actress
Years active	1966–present
Spouse	Mukesh Aggrawal (1990–1991)(his death)
Parents	Gemini Ganesan (Father) Pushpavalli (Mother)

Bhanurekha Ganesan (born 10 October 1954), better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian actress who has appeared in Hindi films. Noted for her versatility and acknowledged as one of the finest actresses in Hindi cinema,^[1] Rekha started her career in 1966 as a child actress in the Telugu movie Rangula Ratnam, though her film debut as a lead happened four years later with Sawan Bhadon (1970). Despite the success of several of her early films, she was often panned for her looks and it was not until the mid-to-late 1970s that she got recognition as an actress. Since the late 1970s, after undertaking a physical transformation, she has been featured as a sex symbol in the Indian media.^[2]

Rekha has acted in over 180 films in a career spanning over 40 years. Throughout her career, she has often played strong female characters and, apart from mainstream cinema, appeared in arthouse films, known in India as parallel cinema. She has won three Filmfare Awards, two for Best Actress and one for Best Supporting Actress, for her roles in Khubsoorat (1980), Khoon Bhari Maang (1988) and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996), respectively. Her portrayal of a classical courtesan in Umrao Jaan (1981) won her the National Film Award for Best Actress. Though her career has gone through certain periods of decline, she has reinvented herself numerous times and has been credited for her ability to sustain her status.^[3]

Early life[link]

Rekha was born in Chennai (then Madras) to Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan and Telugu actress Pushpavalli. Her father enjoyed considerable success as an actor and Rekha was to follow in his footsteps.^[4]

Her parents were not married, and her father did not acknowledge his paternity during her childhood.^[4] It was in early 1970s, when she was looking for a footing in Bollywood, that she revealed her origins. Later, at the peak of her career, Rekha told a magazine interviewer that her father's neglect still rankled and that she had ignored his efforts at reconciliation.^[4] Rekha quit school in order to start a career in acting. She did not have any personal aspirations in this direction, but the troubled financial state of her family compelled her to do so.^[5]

Film career[link]

1970s[link]

Rekha appeared as a child actress (credited as Baby Bhanurekha) in the Telugu film Rangula Ratnam (1966). Rekha made her debut as heroine in the successful Kannada film Goa dalli CID 999 with Rajkumar in 1969.^[4] In that same year, she starred in her first Hindi film, Anjana Safar. She later claimed that she was tricked into a kissing scene with the leading actor Biswajit for the overseas market,^[6] and the kiss made it to the Asian edition of Life magazine.^[7] The film ran into censorship problems, and would not be released until almost a decade later in 1979 (retitled as Do Shikaari).^[8]

As she had no interest in acting and was basically forced to work in order to sustain her family financially, this was a difficult period in her life. Still a teenager, acclimatizing herself to her new surroundings was an uneasy process. Coming from the South, she did not speak Hindi and struggled to communicate with co-workers, and was constantly missing her mother, who was critically ill. Moreover, she was required to follow a strict diet. Recalling this phase, Rekha was later quoted as saying (Reacting to it, many years later, she said, "I'm healed, I am not bitter anymore, I don't think I ever was."),

She had two films released in 1970: the Telugu film Amma Kosam and the Hindi film Sawan Bhadon, which was considered her acting debut in Bollywood. She had to learn Hindi, as that was not her naturally spoken language.^[10][11] Sawan Bhadon became a hit, and Rekha — a star overnight.^[4] Despite the success of the film, she was often scorned for her looks. She subsequently got several offers but nothing of substance, as her roles were mostly just of a glamour girl.^[5] She appeared in several commercially successful films at the time, including Raampur Ka Lakshman (1972), Kahani Kismat Ki (1973), and Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye (1974), yet she was not regarded for her acting abilities and—according to Tejaswini Ganti—"the industry was surprised by her success as her dark complexion, plump figure, and garish clothing contradicted the norms of beauty prevalent in the film industry and in society."^[5][4] Rekha recalls that the way she was perceived at that time motivated her to change her appearance and improve her choice of roles: "I was called the ‘Ugly Duckling’ of Hindi films because of my dark complexion and South Indian features. I used to feel deeply hurt when people compared me with the leading heroines of the time and said I was no match for them. I was determined to make it big on sheer merit."^[12]

This period marked the beginning of Rekha's physical trasformation. She started paying attention to her make-up, dress sense, and worked to improve her acting technique and perfect her Hindi-language skills. In order to lose weight, she followed a nutritious diet, led a regular, disciplined life, and practiced yoga, later recording albums to promote physical fitness. According to Khalid Mohamed, "The audience was floored when there was a swift change in her screen personality, as well as her style of acting."^[13] She began choosing her film roles with more care; her first performance-oriented role came in 1976 when she played Amitabh Bachchan's ambitious and greedy wife in Do Anjaane.^[14] An adaptation of Nihar Ranjan Gupta's Bengali novel Ratrir Yatri, the film was directed by Dulal Guha and became a reasonable success with audiences and critics.^[4]

Her most significant turning point, however, came in 1978, with her portrayal of a rape victim in the movie Ghar. She played the role of Aarti, a newly married woman who gets gravely traumatised after being gang-raped. The film follows her character's struggle and recuperation with the help of her loving husband, played by Vinod Mehra. The film was considered her first notable milestone,^[5] and her performance was applauded by both critics and audiences. Dinesh Raheja from Rediff, in an article discussing her career, remarked, "Ghar heralded the arrival of a mature Rekha. Her archetypal jubilance was replaced by her very realistic portrayal..."^[7] She received her first nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare Awards.^[4][15]