Rekha is an evergreen Bollywood film actress. She was born in
Chennai in the year 1954. Her formal name is Bhanurekha Ganesan-which was later shortened to Rekha. Her father was the renowned Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan and her mother was the Telegu actress Pushpavalli.
Rekha's parents were not married and this situation would continue to rankle Rekha all her life; she had a list of failed marital affairs. Rekha entered the
Mumbai film industry in her childhood. She was first seen by the film going audience as a child actor in the Telegu film Rangula Ratnam (1966). Then she did a successful Kannad film Goadalli CID 999 with Dr.Rajkumar(1969). The film was one of the first to portray her as a heroine. In 1970 she released two films: the Hindi film Sawan Bhadon and the Telegu film Amma Kosam; of the two Sawan Bhadon was a huge hit at the box office and Rekha went on to be a star.
Her first serious role was in the film 'Do Anjanne' (1976). Her co-star was Amitabh Bacchan. In 1978 she did 'Ghar' for which she received critical acclaim and which also got Rekha a nomination for the Filmfare best actress award.
She co-starred with Amitabh Bacchan in many Bollywood films-most notable is the 1978 film Muqaddar Ka Sikander, then came Silsila and after a few films in the 1980's she starred in the critically acclaimed 'Umrao Jaan' for which she received the National Film Award for best actress. She portrayed a courtesan with a heart of gold in the film.
After the Bacchan era her films became more women oriented (Khoobsurat,Khoon Bhari Maang and Mujhe Insaaf Chahiye).She also appeared in 'Art 'films like Utsav, Basera and Ijazzat.
In recent years she has increasingly taken on diverse positive roles in contemporary themed films like Zubeidaa (2001),Dil Hai Tumhara (2002), Koi..Mil Gaya(2003) and Parineeta(2005). She also acted in the sequel to Koi.. as Hrithik Roshan's Grandmother in the flick Krrish. Rekha currently lives with her secretary Farzana in Bandra, Mumbai.
Ranbir Kapoor
Rani Mukherjee
Shammi Kapoor
Satyajit Ray
Shabana Azmi
Abhishek Bachchan
Deepa Mehta
Mahesh Bhatt
Yash Chopra
Raj Kapoor
Aishwarya Rai
Mira Nair
Amitabh Bachchan
Shah Rukh Khan
Mammootty
Javed Akhtar
A.R. Rahman
Gulzar
Asha Bhonsle
Remo Fernandes
M.S. Subbulakshmi
Dr. Bhupen Hazarika
Dev Anand
Deepika Padukone
