Shocking: Rekha reveals the woman that stopped her from working with Amitabh Bachchan

In an explosive biography, many secrets of Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan's affair have been revealed.

 

 

 

 

 

Rekha says she confronted Amitabh about not wanting to work with her anymore…

One of the most controversial and timeless romances of B-town is that of megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha. Die hard romantics still swear over their iconic jodi. But theirs was an affair that was looked down at by the world at the time it was at its peak. Well, Amitabh was married to Jaya Bhaduri, and Rekha was the other woman in the family, they say. And like any typical Indian scenario like this one, Rekha was the one who bore the entire trauma of allegations, name calling, shaming and defamation. In a new biography titled Rekha The Untold Story, written by Yasser Usman, a whole lot of revelations are made by the author about the actress, including the aforementioned phase.

Taking a few excerpts from the book, we try to map a few details of the heart wrenching love story that probably had no other conclusion than what it is now.
On 22 January 1980, Rekha wore vermilion, sindoor, on her forehead, as done by married women in Indian culture, to Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh’s wedding reception. When Neetu should have been the centre of attention of media and guests, Rekha stole the thunder. Press and guests could not stop wondering if the actress has gotten secretly married! At the same party Rekha went up to Amitabh and chatted for a whole of 5 minutes. According to Stardust magazine, as reported by India Today, Jaya was visibly disturbed and upset by this.
This wasn’t the first or the only time Jaya’s tears had taken over Rekha’s life.
There were reports that Jaya has barred Amitabh from working with Rekha ever again, after Muqqadar Ka Sikandar. Amitabh agreed.
In a controversial interview carried by Stardust in 1978 Rekha made some explosive revelations. Rekha says that she was hurt by Amitabh’s decision not to work with her but it was Jaya who faced her anger. “At an award function some time ago, I’d recited a few lines. Everyone imagined they were meant for him. But actually, it was for her,” said Rekha. She recited the lines in the interview: “:I looked at you, you turned your face away. Why? You feel you are badly off, but can’t you see my position is worse? There is deep hurt in your gaze, but can’t you see that the wounds in my heart are deeper than your look?”
In the same interview Rekha elaborated how exactly she came to know of she came to know of Jaya’s pain. She said “Once I was looking at the whole [Bachchan] family through the projection room when they came to see the trial show of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Jaya was sitting in the front row and he and his parents were in the row behind her. They couldn’t see her as clearly as I could. And during our love scenes, I could see tears pouring down her face. A week later [after the trial show of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar], everybody in the industry was telling me that he has made it clear to his producers that he was not going to work with me. Everybody else informed me about it but he didn’t say a word on the subject. When I tried to question him about it, he said, “I am not going to say a word. Don’t ask me about it'”
Over the time Rekha has been called names. Names that people like us won’t be able to take to the grave. And then there is Rekha who kept glimmering with confidence and panache for years to come.
Excerpts taken from Rekha The Untold Story, By Yasser Usman, Juggernaut Books.