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Today, 10th October 2016, happens to be the birthday of Rekha, one of the most successful and prominent actors of the 1970s and 1980s.
This blog was started in July 2008 – which means this blog has already seen eight birthdays of Rekha since it was started.
In all this time, I don’t think I have posted any song on her birthday for her. Granted that I wasn’t posting from the beginning – and even the practice of posting songs on birthdays started only later – but even so, I have always missed writing a post for Rekha’s birthday.
This time, I suddenly felt like using this opportunity to not just wish her on her birthday, but also share some of my thoughts about her. It is strange that I haven’t done this until now, considering her entire career coincided with my active film-watching days. So she was an integral part of that time.
So today, I am correcting the situation with this post.
Let me start by wishing Rekha a very happy birthday and many happy returns of the day.
Rekha has been one of the industry’s heavyweights since the 70s – and is not routinely referred to as a “diva” (in its positive sense) without reason.
Yet, when I look back at those early years (the early-mid 70s), I distinctly recall Rekha as not making any impression on me at all.
I was a schoolboy then – and, admittedly, had little understanding of acting calibre. I used to enjoy movies, regardless of who the actors were. The most popular female lead actor of that period was easily Hema Malini. Jaya Bachchan (then still called Jaya Bhaduri) had her own following. There were others who were also fairly popular – Raakhee, Zeenat Aman, Neetu Singh, Moushumi Chatterjee.
And there was Rekha.
She was very much in the mix. Very early on, she had got a big break with Sawan Bhadon (1970) and had fairly well-known films like Raampur Ka Lakshman, Gora Aur Kala, Ek Bechara, Anokhi Ada, Namak Haram, Gora Aur Kala, Kahani Kismat Ki, Dharma and Dharmatma to her credit. And many more too, for she was quite prolific.
Her stature was definitely growing in the industry during that time, even if most of these films were male-dominated films, where the heroine could have been just about anybody.
I saw each one of these films at that time – and I must admit she didn’t make the slightest impression on me. Rather, if I am to be brutally honest, she used to annoy me in those days.
I distinctly remember her in Do Anjaane (1976) opposite a now-noticed Amitabh. And in Imaan Dharam too, opposite Shashi Kapoor. In Do Anjaane, she was ok but in Imaan Dharam, she really annoyed me, with that exaggerated South Indian accent . Remember “kunchum kunchum”?
She continued doing roles which I couldn’t care less about. If I knew a film was a Rekha film, I’d sigh “oh no!” within.
And then I saw Ghar (1978).
My sister and her friend (who happened to be my age) were going for the film – and since it was holiday time – I tagged along. We had no idea what sort of film it was – I thought it would be one of the usual masala films of the time.
By the time I came out of the cinema hall, I was very quiet. As everyone knows, Ghar is anything but a masala film. It talks about a very difficult (at that time, even taboo) subject. I remember this film making me think a lot. I can’t say the same for most films of the time.
Anyway, Ghar made me completely change my opinion of Rekha. I was hugely impressed by her performance. I realized then, that she had far more depth to her acting than her previous films had allowed her to showcase. After all, it is one thing to do justice to a role, but you also need a role to do justice to your ability.
I also realized then that if she annoyed me in earlier films, it was more due to the roles than anything else. It wasn’t her fault, it was just the type of roles she played.
I think Rekha’s own profile went up a few notches after Ghar. I wasn’t the only one who noticed there was more to her than we’d seen till then.
After that, her career graph just went northwards. She began getting good roles – and got raves for her bubbly, schoolgirl-like role in Khoobsoorat. It was an outstanding performance, in my opinion. From then on, she went from strength to strength. Even today, her performance in Umrao Jaan is talked about. And people remember her in Khoon Bhari Maang, Ijaazat and so many other films.
Clearly, the “ugly duckling” (her term, not mine!) as she’d been considered early on in her career, considering her looks then, had become a beautiful swan.
This was about her acting.
Separate from this, there was of course the whole Rekha-Amitabh Bachchan controversy through the late 70s/early 80s. They acted in a fair number of films together – and there was enough grist for the rumour mills. Rekha herself seemed to add fairly generously to them, though Amitabh, if I’m not mistaken, maintained a dignified silence most of the time. This got interpreted in its own way.
For me – and maybe that’s one reason I am writing this post at all – Rekha is one of a kind in the industry.
Although this post has been mainly about her acting, I feel Rekha is in a different league altogether. And no, I’m not referring to her acting here. There might have been other, just as versatile, actors in the industry, maybe even more – but Rekha is more than an actor for many now. Especially for women.
I think much of this has to do with her personal life and how she has dealt with it. She faced many challenges along the way – her relationship with her own family, her relationship in love, her marriage in which her husband committed suicide. She surmounted all these challenges – this has won her many admirers. She has worked on herself all the time, focussing on her own growth, personally and professionally, without letting others dictate terms to her.
These attributes, in my opinion, are far more valuable than just acting skills. This is also probably the reason why Rekha is held in such high regard by so many, especially women. She comes across as a model of strength for many aspiring women.
Which is probably why I felt I should write this post. There’s a book recently released about Rekha – I haven’t read it yet, but I plan to do so sometime.
Let’s move on now to the song for today.
This is from Silsila (1981). A film that has instant recall for many – not just for its lovely songs (music by Shiv Hari) but for its controversial casting of pitting Jaya Bachchan against Rekha in a love triangle , featuring Amitabh Bachchan. It was, of course, only a story but the Rekha-Amitabh rumours were then at their peak. Yash Chopra, the film-maker, exploited this in his casting and storyline.
The song is “pehli pehli baar dekha aisa jalwa”. It is sung at a wedding early on in the film, where Amitabh and Rekha, attending on behalf of the bridegroom and bride respectively, meet for the first time. The song is pretty chatpata, the dancing is very good – and above all, there’s tremendous chemistry between Amitabh and Rekha in this song.
I’m rather fond of this song – and today, when I decided to post a song for Rekha’s birthday, this was the first one that came to my mind.
I hope you like it too.
And once again, I wish Rekha a very happy birthday. And sorry, Rekhaji, for getting annoyed by you in your pre-Ghar roles. It wasn’t you, it was the roles.
Lyrics for this song have been provided by Avinash Scrapwala.
Video
Audio
Song-Pehli pehli baar dekha aisa jalwaa (Silsilaa)(1981) Singers-Kishore Kumar, Lata, Lyrics-Rajinder Krishan, MD-Shiv Hari
Lyrics(Provided by Avinash Scrapwala)
Haan pehli pehli baar dekhaa
Aisa jalwaa
Ho aisa jalwaa
Ye ladki hai yaa sholaa aa
Ye ladki hai yaa sholaa aa
O o o o o Sholaa hai sholaa
Sholey se darnaa
Marna to thhande paaani mein marnaa
Reham jawaani pe khaa
O mundeyaa
Reham jawaani pe kha aa
Loote na jawaani mein jo sholon ka mazaa
Ho o sholon ka mazaa
To bolo wo aadmi hai kya aa
To bolo wo aadmi hai kya
Aayi hai nayi nayi zulmi jawaani
Karta hai badh ke baatein deewaani
Khair tu dil ki manaa
O babuaa
Khair tu dil ki manaa aa
Dil jaisi cheez ki manaaun khair kya
Ho manaaun khair kya
Main to donon jahaan se gayaa aa
O main to donon jahaan se gayaa
Jaa re shikaari tera jaal puraana
Aur kahin pe jaa ke daal ye daanaa
Chidiyaa phanse na lambuaa
O lambuaa
Kudi phanse na lambuaa aa aa
Door kaise hoga tera mera faaslaa
Tera mera faaslaa
Rab jaane ya dil mera
O rab jaane ya dil mera aa
O o o o o
abhi to dekha hai jalwaa door ka
Haal buraa hai mere hazoor ka
Haath pakad ke dikhaa
O soneya haath pakad ke dikhaa
Pakdi kalaayi to na chhodoonga kabhi
Naa chhodoonga kabhi
O soni ye yaad rakhnaa aa
O soni ye yaad rakhnaa aa
O soni ye yaad rakhnaa aa
—————————————-
Devnagri script lyrics (Provided by Avinash Scrapwala)
—————————————-
हाँ पहली पहली बार देखा
ऐसा जलवा
हो ऐसा जलवा
ये लड़की है या शोला आ
ये लड़की है या शोला आ
ओ ओ ओ ओ ओ शोला है शोला
शोले से डरना
मरना तो ठंडे पानी में मरना
रहम जवानी पे खा
ओ मुंडेया
रहम जवानी पे खा
लूटे न जवानी में जो शोलो का मज़ा
हो ओ शोलों का मज़ा
तो बोलो वो आदमी है क्या आ
तो बोलो वो आदमी है क्या
आयी है नयी नयी जुल्मी जवानी
करता है बढ़ के बातें दीवानी
खैर तू दिल की मना
ओ बबुआ
खैर तू दिल की मना आ
दिल जैसी चीज़ की मनाऊं खैर क्या
हो मनाऊं खैर क्या
मैं तो दोनों जहां से गया आ
ओ मैं तो दोनों जहां से गया
जा रे शिकारी तेरा जाल पुराना
और कहीं पे जा के डाल ये दाना
चिड़िया फंसे न लम्बुआ
ओ लम्बुआ
कुड़ी फंसे न लम्बुआ आ आ
दूर कैसे होगा तेरा मेरा फासला
तेरा मेरा फासला
रब जाने या दिल मेरा
ओ रब जाने या दिल मेरा आ
ओ ओ ओ ओ ओ अभी तो देखा है
जलवा दूर का
हाल बुरा है मेरे हुज़ूर का
हाथ पकड़ के दिखा
ओ सोनेया हाथ पकड़ के दिखा
पकड़ी कलाई तो ना छोडूंगा कभी
ना छोडूंगा कभी
ओ सोनी ये याद रखना आ
ओ सोनी ये याद रखना आ
ओ सोनी ये याद रखना आ
ओ सोनी ये याद रखना आ
ओ सोनी ये याद रखना आ
