If she was a product of nepotism, then this was her biggest curse.

But there was no looking back for her and no luxury of choice. This is precisely how Rekha began her career in Bollywood. Shashi Kapoor, who years later ironically heaped her with praises, looked forward to be her co-star and knocked her door several times as a producer (Utsav, Vijeta) was back then overheard amusedly remarking “yeh namoona kahan se utha laaye?” (where did you get this sample from?)!! No choice for Bhanurekha, no looking back for Rekha Even actor Raj Kumar was caught off guard joking with the producer (based out of Nairobi) on his choice, that his association with Africa justifies his inclination towards dark girls. It was an era of beauties like Saira Banu, Asha Parekh, Sharmila Tagore, even the young Hema Malini and her likes. As for some strange, hushed-up reason, she was the producer’s choice he complied with a lot of dissatisfaction. He is rumoured to have initially refused to act opposite this ‘kaali kaluti’, plump, strange, oddly dressed girl from the South who didn’t know a word of Hindi. It is said that her first co-actor Navin Nishchal, a gold medalist from FTII Pune was horrified at the choice of the female lead. She was made fun of, mocked at, body shamed serially by various industry people. Hema Malini was far well placed in society, knew Hindi better, was a trained dancer, and was easily accepted as well as respected by the film industry. On the other hand Rekha was ridiculed. In the same year of her arrival, there was another south Indian beauty who was launched: Hema Malini. She was renamed here as Rekha sans her Ganesan surname. At the behest of a producer her mother knew, her arrival from the South to the Bombay of the late 60’s was fraught with despair, struggle, and an immense fear of the unknown. So acting as a profession came to the teenager not as a matter of choice but as dire necessity.

All the more reason that she bore the cross of her famous title and her illegitimacy. It is shamelessly easy to abuse and take advantage of a minor who no one feared, respected or cared for. At a very tender age, Bhanurekha learnt that to survive as a woman in this dark, lethal world is dangerous. With her waning career in films and deep down in debt, in almost sole desperation, Pushpavalli pulled out of school a mere thirteen year old Bhanurekha to make her act in films against the girl’s wishes.Īs her father lined up awards, Bhanurekha Ganesan lined up the doors of producers for meagre roles to keep her family going. Who had a family of his own whom he loved and publicly acknowledged, though he refused any ownership to her, her sister, or her mother, and that she was born out of wedlock in short, an illegitimate child, shoved to the fringes of society.Īs her superstar father flourished and reached the pinnacle of stardom in the South, Pushpavalli struggled with Bhanurekha, her sister and her other half siblings (all born out of wedlock) to make ends meet. It didn’t take long for a a very young Bhanurekha to learn that her father was the superstar Gemini Ganesan. Her father was just a last name for her – Ganesan – and a very famous one at that.

Just like Umrao was born Amiran, Rekha was born Bhanurekha Ganesan on 10th October 1954 to a small time struggling Telugu actress Pushpavalli. Bhanurekha, born on 10th October 1954, Madras Rekha ironically has earned the propiertership, as she and Umrao uncannily feed into each other effortlessly. She would eternally remain in public memory as essentially and solely Rekha’s. Lesson learnt: Umrao Jaan should be left untouched now and forever. Even her famous, ethereal beauty fails to come to her rescue from the dismal fate of the reinvented Umrao Jaan. Like when none other than the stunning, gorgeous Aishwariya Rai comes face to face with this dawning reality when she made an attempt to reinvent Umrao Jaan once again in 2006. Any attempt in consequent years to emulate the genius of the part she lived would fall flat. Perhaps his choice was instinctive, but it is she, who would go on to eternalise Umrao on screen like no other.

The veteran director Muzaffar Ali makes up his mind to adopt Umrao Jaan for the screen his Umrao Jaan is to be played by the thespian Rekha. Accentuating this tragedy, unawares, he marries the conventionally respected Ram Dai brought up as the adopted daughter of the Begum.ĭesperate to escape the vicious cycle of her fate, Umrao Jaan seeks solace in different men, only to find herself dejected, unacknowledged, and confined in her kotha the only place that finally acknowledges her for what she is, with her music, poetry and loneliness. And so she realises, as a weak Nawab fails to offer her a deserving societal acceptance. Register Nowīut a man of strong intellect is not always one of a strong character. Never miss real stories from India's women.

Umrao jaan 1981 synopsis