This is a Tribute to Ms. Waheeda Rehman, A Legend Of Our Time! This graceful lady is one of the most popular and respected Indian artists, in Sri Lanka too. May God bless her! Song No. 1 - Lata Mangeshkar - Ae Mere Aankhon Ke Pehle Sapne - Man Mandir [1971] Song No. 2 - Hemant Kumar & Suman Kalyanpur - Na Tum Hamen Jaano - Baat Ek Raat Ki [1962] Song No. 3 - Mohammed Rafi & Suman Kalyanpur - Dil-e-Betaab Ko Seene Se Lagaana Hoga - Palki [1967] Song No. 4 - Mohammed Rafi - Koi Saagar Dil Ko Behlata Nahin - Dil Diya Dard Liya [1966] Waheeda Rehman (born14 May 1936), is an Indian film actress who appears in Bollywood movies and is known for many successful and critically acclaimed movies from 1950's, 60's and early 70's most notably C.I.D. (1956) and Guru Dutt classics such as Pyaasa (1957), 12 O'Clock (1958), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. Her other notable works inculde Solva Saal (1958), Baat Ek Raat Ki (1962), Kohra (1964), Guide (1965), Teesri Kasam (1966), Aadmi and Khamoshi (1969). She starred opposite many leading actors at the time including Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Sunil Dutt, Biswajeet, Dilip Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Raaj Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Sanjeev Kumar and Dharmendra. One of the most prominent actresses of the golden era, Waheeda Rehman was born into a traditional Telugu-speaking Muslim family in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, British India. She and her sister learnt Bharatnatyam at Mumbai's Sri Rajarajeswari Bharata Natya Kala Mandir, where Guru T. K. Mahalingam Pillai, doyen among nattuvanars taught and performed on stage together. Her father, who was a District Commissioner, died while she was still in her teens. It is a common misconception that Rehman was born in Hyderabad. "It's a long story," she says, "When I was in Chennai, I did three to four Tamil and Telugu movies. In the first one, Kaalam Maari Pochu along with Gemini Ganesan a bilingual film which was made in Tamil and Telugu as Rojulu Maraayi, I did only a folk dance number in both Tamil and Telugu versions. However, it went on to become a hit! I was in Hyderabad celebrating its success and Guru Dutt happened to be there. He was on a lookout for new faces and heard that I could speak in Urdu. It is because he spotted me in Hyderabad that people assume I was born there". Waheeda Rehman, started her career in films in 1954 and her first successful films were the Telugu films Jayasimha (1955), followed by Rojulu Marayi (1955) and Tamil film Kaalam Maari Pochu (1956). In the success party of Rojulu Maaraayi, Guru Dutt noticed her and decided to groom her and make her act in Hindi Films. Waheeda considered Guru Dutt as her mentor............... In recent years she made a comeback playing elderly mother and grandmother roles in Om Jai Jagadish (2002), Water (2005) and Rang De Basanti (2006) and Delhi 6 (2009) which were all critically acclaimed. In October 2004, a Waheeda Rehman film retrospective was held at the Seattle Art Museum and the University of Washington where Waheeda participated in spirited panel and audience discussions on her most memorable films—Pyaasa, Teesri Kasam and Guide—although her most successful film is still considered to be Khamoshi, with costar Rajesh Khanna. After her marriage with Shashi Rekhi (screen name Kamaljeet) on 27 April 1974, she shifted to a farmhouse in Bangalore. She bore two children named Sohail and Kashvi, who are both writers. On 21 November 2000, her husband died following a prolonged illness. She moved back to her ocean view bungalow in Bandra, Mumbai where she currently lives. Now, " Waheeda Rehman, Asha, Nanda and Helen meet regularly over lunches", according to Asha Parekh's recent interview to media. "When five ladies meet we always have something to talk about" she says.!!!!! Awards; National Film Award for Best Actress for Reshma Aur Shera in 1971. Filmfare Best Actress Award for Guide in 1966. Filmfare Best Actress Award for Neel Kamal in 1968. Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, Best Actress (Hindi) for Teesri Kasam in 1967. Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. NTR National Award for 2006. Padma Shri in 1972. Padma Bhushan in 2011. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waheeda_Rehman]

• published: 19 May 2012
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