When the Filmfare Awards bestowed on Rekha the Lifetime Achievement Award earlier this year, it marked a long overdue milestone in the career of an actress who is still going strong after thirty six years in the film industry. Her long spanning career, amply demonstrated her endurance and staying power at the top. In spite of directors trying to typecast her in roles of a pining courtesan with a heart of gold, she probably featured in the widest variety of roles that any mainstream actress can boast of. Whether it was comedy (Khubsoorat), drama (Khoon Bhari Maang), romance (Silsila), biography (Umrao Jaan), erotica (Utsav) or relationships (Ijaazat and Ghar), Rekha’s versatility spanned every genre of movies.
1.Umrao Jaan(1981): An all time classic, featuring in most of the International Movie festivals showcasing Indian cinema, Umrao Jaan was Rekha and Rekha was Umrao Jaan. The pain and pathos of the life of the 19th century poetess was brought alive by what is arguably Rekha’s best performance till date, and the one that got her the much deserved National Award. The range of emotions displayed in her portrayal were ably helped by another career best performance – Asha Bhosle’s sensual vocals.
2.Khubsoorat(1980): Rekha’s flair for comedy was never properly exploited except for Khubsoorat. Director Hrishikesh Mukherjee cast Rekha as the impish girl in a middle class family who takes on her sister’s in-laws. The performance was remarkable for the natural sense of timing, especially in the scenes with Ashok Kumar and Dina Pathak. The movie got her the Filmfare award.
3.Ghar(1977): Much beforeTabu, Rekha was the only glamourous mainstream commercial actress who who could morph into a middleclass housewife with as much of effort as changing clothes. Ghar was her first fine-tuned performance where she was paired with then hubby (?) Vinod Mehra, as a housewife undergoing mental turmoil after being gangraped. Rekha handled the role with amazing sensitivity and the scenes with Vinod Mehra are amongst the most believable couple scenes I have seen on screen.
4.Muqaddar Ka Sikandar(1979): A role prototypical of the roles that directors loved to cast her in, Rekha’s role as the sacrificing courtesan was supposed to be a cameo, but the blazing intensity of her scenes with paramour Amitabh, coupled with the ever popular mujra ‘Salam-e-Ishq’ helped her upstage Rakhee who was the main heroine of the movie. Many of her scenes of unrequited love in this movie find an echo in last year’s Chanramukhi portrayal by Maduri in Devdas.
5.Khoon Bhari Maang(1988): One of the numerous comebacks in her career (her four decade long career is chequered with lulls followed by phoenix-like comebacks), Khoon Bhari Maang saw Rekha portray the role of a plain-jane housewife whose husband tries to kill her and how she takes revenge. A remake of ‘Return to Eden’, this movie offered her the chance to contrast her acting and appearance before and after a supposed plastic surgery which helps her alter her appearance. The powerful author backed role helped her win her second filmfare award against nominations by gen-next stars like Madhuri and Juhi.
6.Ijaazat(1986): Though relationships were her forte, eyebrows were raised when Gulzar cast her as the wife as opposed to her usual other woman roles, in this brilliant movie. Pitted against the incredible Naseerudin Shah and the elfin Anooradha Patel, this was a performance remarkably restrained and underplayed by Rekha. The drama and undercurrents were as effectively conveyed in the silences as in the dialogues.
7.Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi (1996): A kitschy commercial movie with much younger hunk Akshay Kumar, saw a delightful performance by Rekha as Madame Maya, the underworld don who spars with her sister’s lover. Well into her forties, she still effortlessly upstaged heroine Raveena Tandon and steamed up the screen with Akshay, winning awards for ‘The Best Performance in a negative role”.
8.Aastha (1996): An offbeat movie around the same time as ‘Khiladiyon..’, Aastha depicted the pressures of materialism on a neglected middle aged housewife. Cast against the brilliant Om Puri, Rekha delivered a knock-out performance as the protagonist who succumbs to prostitution. Sadly she narrowly missed out the National Award to Tabu’s performance in ‘Maachis’.
9.Silsila (1982): A Yash Chopra movie that was well ahead of its times, Silsila featured Amitabh, Jaya and Rekha in a story that was embarrassingly close to their real life situation. The romantic intensity between Rekha and Amitabh in Silsila is in the league of Raj Kapoor and Nargis. Also brilliant is her confrontation scene with Jaya (once again finding echoes in Madhuri and Ashwarya’s confrontation scene in Devdas). Pity that Rekha’s stunning beauty amidst the picturesque Amsterdam locales distracted from the simmering performances.
10.Utsav (1984): Coming at the peak of Rekha’s career, this was a period drama based on the Sanskrit play ‘Mrichchakatika’ and was a celebration of the spring festival and love. Rekha’s inherent sensuality oozed from every frame of this movie. Her stunningly authentic grand costumes coupled with outstanding artwork make this movie a visual treat.